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Title: Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0-06-100017-5 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: November, 2002 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.53 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Hillerman at his best
Comment: As long time fans of Tony Hillerman know, Navaho Tribal Police officers Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn didn't always work together. In fact, for the first half dozen or so novels in Hillerman's series of mysteries, the two characters were pretty much independent of one another, starring in their own novels without the benefit of each others company (although Leaphorn does get a passing reference in the Jim Chee-centered People of Darkness). But all that changed with Skinwalkers, where for the first time Hillerman has his two principal characters work together side-by-side on a case, and in the process start what has to be one of the best Holmes-Watson combinations in all of literature.
The book starts out with a bang, literally. Someone fires three shots into Jim Chee's dilapidated trailer while he's inside, missing him by inches. Why someone would want to kill him he hasn't the faintest idea, but is there any connection between this and three unsolved murders on the Navaho reservation? And how, of all things, do reports of witchcraft and "skinwalkers" (the evil shape-changers of Navaho myth) fit into the puzzle? Lt. Leaphorn wants to know, Sgt. Chee can't let so personal a mystery go uninvestigated, and before long the two are navigating their way through that trademark intricate array of clues woven with Navaho folklore that have made Hillerman such a staple with mystery fans.
It's hard to dislike any of the novels in this series, and Skinwalkers is one of the best. The mystery is tight and interesting, the characters engaging, and there is that whole fascinating world of the Dinee, the Navaho people, that Hillerman so obviously loves to explore. Skinwalkers is especially a good place to start for those who have never read a Navaho Tribal Police novel before, because it is at the start of the Leaphorn & Chee combination that has dominated the series ever since (although don't forget to pick up those earlier novels!). Highly recommended.
Rating: 5
Summary: Mystery and Character
Comment: Hillerman's marvelous mysteries pit Officer Jim Chee and Lt. Joe Leaporn against a variety of nefarious evil doers. In "Skinwalkers" the two are brought together and must find out who is trying to kill Chee. Hillerman's intricate plots are set with colorful detail in the Navajo reservation areas of the southwest. Reading the stories yields an appreciation of the nation within a nation of the Navajo Indian. The two tribal policemen have adapted in different ways to life influenced by two cultures.
The pragmatic and more experienced Leaphorn reflects to himself: "Getting old, . . . He had reached the ridge and now the slope was downward. The thought didn't depress him, but it gave him an odd sense of pressure, of time moving past him, of things needed to be done before time ran out. Leaphorn considered this, and laughed. Most un-Navajo thinking. He had been around white men far too long."
Chee is more spiritual and embraces Indian mysticism. He strives to become a healer in addition to being a competent police officer. "Chee believed in penicillin and insulin and heart bypass surgery. But he also believed that something far beyond the understanding of modern medicine controlled life and death."
The complexity of character enriches these entertaining whodunit novels and makes them very satisfying reading.
Rating: 5
Summary: Superb
Comment: Were I able to give this book more than 5 stars, I would do so. It is probably Hillerman's masterpiece. He does a wonderful job of taking Navajo customs and ideas and grafting them onto a more Western motive. His characters are alive. And his descriptions of the Four Corners area are vivid.
Much, much better than the "Mystery!" adaptation. It's certainly among the best mystery novels written in the past twenty-odd years.
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Title: A Thief of Time by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0061000043 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: November, 1989 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0061000019 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: August, 1991 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Talking God by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 006109918X Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Listening Woman by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0061000299 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: June, 1990 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Coyote Waits by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0061099325 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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