Border Songs - Jim Lynch

Moves smoothly over drug smuggling, post 9/11 paranoia, Canadian/US relations and the dying family farm with a deft touch, centered on the main character, a 6'8, 240 pound nature child who involuntarily imitates bird calls and joined the Border Patrol because no one else was hiring. The girl he loves is in deep with marijuana smugglers and won't return his calls, while his father struggles with his wife losing her memory and his dairy farm losing the will the survive. A good mix of character and story, and defies expectations with the direction of some plot strands.