Just a thought for people looking for something to read

[EditorOne]

I may have mentioned it before, but I just read another book by "Nevada Barr" (her pen name) and was struck that she has successfully created a mystery-adventure series with a full blown INTP and occasionally J. Her protagonist is Anna Pigeon, a law enforcement ranger with the United States National Park Service. She's got, at this point in the series, a husband who created an "alone room" in his house when she moved in; she'd rather deal with animals than people; she can only take so much interaction with people before she has to go be alone for awhile; she has an analytical mind that works well when she's so exhausted, bleeding, battered or otherwise screwed up: classic INTP stuff.

The book I just read features a moment of the kind of "Think before speaking," and "Why is everyone upset at what I said?" we've all experienced. She's reporting to her boss about the guys she tracked down who were responsible for some particularly brutal murders of college kids as part of a drug thing. They'd already shot her, she got away. She was without a weapon; she bashed one guy in the head with the flat of an axe while he was asleep, then rounded up all their gear she could get and threw it on their campfire, leaving them without shoes, so she could get a head start walking eight miles out of the wilderness to get help. Bad Guy #2, a reptile beggaring discussion, killed his partner for being an idiot who fell asleep, then tried to track her down, her with a cracked bone in her ankle and him with crap wrapped around his bare feet because his shoes burned up. She fell asleep from exhaustion and awoke to find him sitting in front of her waiting to kill her. She surprised him with a nasty remark and managed to jab a finger and rip out one of his eyes. Off she goes, him following. He chases her down again, pitch black night, and she manages to trick him into stepping on a gas-soaked sleeping bag, which she ignites.

That's all just lead-up.

Her boss is reeling from her matter-of-fact description of bashing one guy and setting fire to another, but he recoils when she notes "He was one of those cockroach kind of guys, quick, creepy and almost impossible to eradicate."

' "Eradicate," Kastner echoed her last word. Before he'd had a chance to change the expression on his face, Anna thought she saw horror there - or revulsion - and wondered if it was of Mark, the incident or her." '

She might wonder, I think the rest of us know. :-)

Anyway, it's over the top and INTP and I enjoy these books a lot. I wish she'd hurry up and write more. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Polaris]

Thanks Editor - I will definitely check it out (:

The idea of eradicating certain types of poisonous, err...genetic material certainly is an appealing one, as much as it is non-pc to admit as much.

I have lately been obsessing over the character of Saga Norén in the TV series "Broen", or "The Bridge" as it is translated to in English. She is a different kettle of fish though as she is on the autism spectrum, although many of her traits are synchronous to the IXT temperaments. I can empathise with her character and plight.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saga_Norén

 

[Architect]

Thanks for the recommendation. I've not gotten into mysteries, preferring sci-fi, but as I'm having a harder time finding decent sci-fi maybe I'll give it a shot.

• Looks like a series, start at the beginning?
• Is she an INTP AFAYK? Or just uses typology in her books, or just happy stereotype?

 

[EditorOne]

It's a series. And I think the author is both using it in her books and is an INTP, not a pronounced one, herself.

Also, not INTP, but: Archer Mayor has written some pretty good police procedurals based in Vermont, which is like a state with an INTP personality. And I have a soft spot for John Sandford's novels. He has an entire series based on a policeman, the "Prey" series, plus another on one of that policeman's more laid -back subordinates, Virgil Flower, who always tows a boat with him on his far-reaching assignments so he can go fishing, and a third based on a criminal who is also an artist, specifically a painter. That guy specializes in both second-story heists and Sting-like scams. John Sandford was a journalist for years at the Minnesota paper, so he has a cheerfully cynical tone and is absolutely devastating at caricaturing the news people who occasionally show up in his books. His former colleagues must live in dread of seeing themselves in his stuff. He also handles the political intrigue very well. I often wish I could write like him.

And, of course, there's Craig Johnson's "Longmire" books, which are as good as the television versions. Johnson is another journalism refugee of sorts. And before Johnson there was the late Tony Hillerman, whose mysteries are built around two Navajo detectives and the Navajo culture.

All write series and yes, any book can be picked up and stand alone but it's best to start at the beginning. I'm afraid I'm running up quite a bill with Amazon filling out the gaps in my Kindle library.

 

[Architect]

Vermont ... which is like a state with an INTP personality

The MBTI manual notes that groups (families) take on the dominant personality. I've also noticed that it seems large groups like states and countries can do this too. Sometimes it's split, France seems to be half ISTJ and half INFJ.

I've lived out East but haven't been to Vermont, why do you think it is like an INTP?