Review: If You Have a Shortage of Reading Material---
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 11, 2014
I rated this as an okay book although it was really a 2 1/2.  I picked it up because it was about Alaska and we lived there at one time so I generally like books set in the state.Don't be fooled by the bear on the cover because the plot really doesn't have much to do with a bear!  I think one wanders into the story but it is just filler.  The plot is another attempt to sell with the current supernatural tangent--vampires, zombies, blah, blah.  I think it had a lot of potential but needed to go in a more believable mystery format.The redeeming factor was a history/geography lesson regarding Whittier and the unusual means of arriving there.  I compliment the author for his background but the story line needed a lot of help.  My experience with Whittier is not recent but he did a good job relating the unusual location of Whittier.Wouldn't recommend that Layne give up his day-job just yet but think he has some talent and needs to hone it.  I'd advise he not follow current fiction trends and come up with a believable, tight mystery.  He appears to have a background in AK so the setting offers enough variation that a good mystery book without the supernatural element would probably help his career.