Liberty Falling is the seventh book in Nevada Barr’s series centered around National Park Ranger Anna Pigeon. Each book takes place in a National Park or Monument, which is a way for the reader to learn about various National Parks. In Liberty Falling, Anna is back in her native New York City and staying with her fellow park rangers on Liberty Island and the many abandoned buildings on Ellis Island.

Written in 1999, Liberty Falling was released before 9/11. I think this hurt the book in the long run, since it also deals with a terror plot. What seemed like a great fictional read in 1999 had a different tone two years later. I don’t know if I could have read it in the years following 9/11 myself, having lived in New York until 2005. More than twenty years later, I could appreciate the book for what it was before 9/11 happened.

Anna is called to New York City when her sister, Molly, falls gravely ill. Anna hasn’t been back since she left NYC years earlier, following the death of her wannabe-actor husband. It’s not an easy return for her in many ways. She enters her sister’s apartment and learns Fred Stanton, the FBI agent Anna had a relationship with, is staying there. There was romantic tension between him and Molly in the past, but they didn’t pursue it due to his previous relationship with Anna. If Anna had any thought of staying at her sister’s place, Fred’s presence precludes that.

This places her bunking with other rangers on Liberty and Ellis Islands. I loved this part of the book as it described life on these tourist sites after the crowds left for the day. Anna had to pay attention to ferry schedules or risk not having a place to sleep at night. Once there and restless, she spends time exploring the island and the bandoned buildings around it. She makes the acquaintance of a security guard who takes her up into the crown of the Statue of Liberty when the crowds have gone home.

Anna is spending most of her time trying to avoid Molly and Fred, which is pretty hard when you’re there because your sister might die. She doesn’t want to acknowledge that fact, nor deal with their relationship. This means she spends a lot of time hanging around with her fellow park rangers. In a matter of days, there are several incidents of people jumping (or being thrown?) from the base of the statue, including the security guard Anna had befriended. Is it just a coincidence? Anna doesn’t think so.

Barr writes this very well. She captured what it was like in New York City in the summer. It can be glorious as well as overbearing at the same time. Anna navigates the City like a pro and spends a lot of that time in her own head. It’s one of the things New York gives you: time to be with your own thoughts. In addition to working through her feelings about Molly and Fred’s relationship, she’s also taking a realistic look at her marriage. This is so spot-on. As someone who grieved the loss of a boyfriend in a car accident, I know how easy it is to dismiss the red flags that were there once that person is gone. When you get to the point that you can look back realistically, it tends to strip away the perfect narrative you’ve created after they were gone. This helps Anna greatly in accepting Zac’s death and seeing him as a whole human being, as well as coming to terms with doing what she can so her sister will be happy.

The mystery in Liberty Falling is good. It builds from something small to something much larger and more threatening. Anna is her usual self, who doesn’t want to be in the limelight. The reflection she does while in New York leads her to understand herself better, and she’s found a life as a Park Ranger that she’s comfortable with. She may grate on people at times, but she does her job and moves on. She doesn’t want the limelight. As the story built to the climax, there were times I found Anna to be a little unrealistic. It’s something writers often do with protagonists they make somewhat super-human, and it’s forgivable.

The narration was handled by Barbara Rosenblat, who has narrated other books in this series. I have had issues with her narration before. In Liberty Falling, she has a tendency to drop her voice towards the end of each sentence, making it hard to keep the volume consistent. She seems to have improved on other issues I had, but this lowering of her voice made it hard to follow while I was doing something else. I usually listen to audiobooks while I am cooking or doing my diamond painting, and this took me out of being immersed in the story.

Liberty Falling is a real turning point for the ongoing characters in this series. It’s a shame that it likely suffered due to events that took place just two years later. It really captures the spirit of New York City in the summer, and I enjoyed the character development. Some aspects of the mystery and solving it might be a stretch, but it’s also a good look at life before we became so obsessed with security.

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