The Bear Trap is a short story in author Paul Doiron’s series centered on Maine Gane Warden Mike Bowditch. It falls between Massacre Pond and The Bone Orchard, although it really stands on its own and could be read or listened to at any point in the series. It’s just 46 minutes long to listen to, so it’s quite a short story.

Mike Bowditch is out fishing with retired Game Warden and pilot Charlie Stevens, when Charlie regales him with a tale from his early years with the Warden Service. Newly home from Vietnam, having been a P.O.W. at the Hanoi Hilton, Charlie joins the Warden Service. One of the first issues he faces is that of a string of thefts surrounding a central Maine Lake. It’s been going on for 19 years, and the perpetrator has eluded capture. Known locally as “The Hermit” or “Sweet Tooth” because he likes to steal sweets, the man has only been seen once or twice and sounds more like Bigfoot than a human being.

When “Sweet Tooth” robs a summer camp for disadvantaged kids Charlie becomes fixated on him. He makes a big show of restocking the groceries at the camp, then stakes out the place. For almost a week, he spends every night hidden around the property, but “Sweet Tooth” doesn’t return. Desperate, Charlie comes up with a plan to flush him out.

I would guess you have to have some idea of what a rural area Maine is to understand how someone could hide out without being discovered for 19 years. People go missing all the time in this area, either accidentally or purposely. Bodies are often recovered years later, if ever. Just this past summer we had an elderly woman with alzheimers go missing near one of the lakes who still hasn’t been found. Otherwise, this part of the story might seem a bit unrealistic. It isn’t.

The story is a good one which illustrates how easily it is for someone to escape notice in a rural area. For residents, “Sweet Tooth” is a bit of a legend. He only steals food, clothing, and books. Many times he’s broken into places and leaves the expensive items alone, along with cash. Thus, they consider him mostly harmless. However, the summer camp has a budget and all of the food he stole puts quite a dent in that budget, not to mention the camp director is worried about restocking and getting robbed again.

Even Mike doubts Charlie at first. To him, it sounds like one of those “tall tales” senior Game Wardens prank the rookies with. It’s a good story that shows the affectionate bond between the two men, which is something that’s present throughout this series. It gives a good bit of background into Charlie Stevens as well. The Bear Trap also fits in nicely with the rest of the series. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Charlie better as well as seeing how these kind of stories usually do have a ring of truth to them. I think it can also be appreciated on its own, so if you haven’t checked out this series just yet it will whet your appetite for more.

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