{"id":5466,"date":"2017-10-22T12:51:23","date_gmt":"2017-10-22T16:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/?p=5466"},"modified":"2017-10-22T12:51:23","modified_gmt":"2017-10-22T16:51:23","slug":"book-review-the-naturalist-by-andrew-mayne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/book-review-the-naturalist-by-andrew-mayne\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

The Naturalist (The Naturalist Series Book One)<\/em> by Andrew Mayne<\/p>\n

Thomas & Mercer, Seattle, 2017<\/p>\n

ISBN-13: 9781477824245<\/p>\n

Available: Paperback\/Kindle ebook<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The<\/em> Naturalist<\/em> is a mystery and thriller about a serial killer.\u00a0 But, is the killer an animal or a human?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Theo Cray, a professor of bioinformatics (biology and computer science) is in a remote town in Montana, when a young woman, a former student of his, is found mauled nearby.\u00a0 Cray has an unusual approach to research.\u00a0 He uses his knowledge of biology, skills in computer science and a unique imagination to look for unexpected patterns in nature, such as the behavior of frogs and large apex predators.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The local law authorities at first suspect that Cray is the killer, but soon decide that a rogue grizzly bear is responsible.\u00a0 But Cray\u2019s knowledge of bear behavior tells him that they are wrong, and that a human made the killing look like an animal attack.\u00a0 What\u2019s more, he finds a report of a young woman who was similarly mauled nearby 6 years ago.\u00a0 He suspects that these are not the killer\u2019s first murders.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cray created an artificial intelligence computer program for his research.\u00a0 It can analyze reams of seemingly unrelated data to reveal the probabilities that underlying patterns exist.\u00a0 Cray enters data about missing persons and population.\u00a0 He finds that Montana and Wyoming are among the states with the highest number of missing persons per capita.\u00a0 He filters the data for young women and interstate highways.\u00a0 The program identifies possible patterns around certain highways, not unlike the feeding circuits of great white sharks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Using this information Cray investigates the cases of missing young women in the area.\u00a0 When he finds evidence that some were not run-aways, but might have been murdered, the authorities come after Cray again.\u00a0 For Cray, it\u2019s now a race between avoiding the law and a finding serial killer, who has murdered over a hundred persons over two decades and is coming for him.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mayne does a good job drawing in the reader as Cray systematically works through the many steps in identifying the killer.\u00a0 The pace of the plot is steady and fast, and the characters are appropriately sympathetic or chilling.\u00a0Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Contains: moderate gore.<\/p>\n

Reviewed By Robert D. Yee<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Naturalist (The Naturalist Series Book One) by Andrew Mayne Thomas & Mercer, Seattle, 2017 ISBN-13: 9781477824245 Available: Paperback\/Kindle ebook   The Naturalist is a mystery and thriller about a serial killer.\u00a0 But, is the killer an animal or a human?   Theo Cray, a professor of bioinformatics (biology and computer science) is in a<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3202,2474,1178,2698,2213,3201],"class_list":["post-5466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-andrew-mayne","tag-book-review","tag-human-horror","tag-psychological-thrillers","tag-serial-killer-fiction","tag-the-naturalist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5467,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5466\/revisions\/5467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monsterlibrarian.com\/TheCirculationDesk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}