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Title: The Fallen Man by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0-06-109288-6 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: October, 1997 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.55 (31 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Finally, Hillerman Gets Back On-Track With Chee/Leaphorn
Comment: _The Fallen Man_ is not one of Hillerman's best novels, but it's almost enough just to see Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn back in action again. The mystery revolves around the newly-discovered skeletal remains of a climber on Shiprock, a sacred site to the Navajo culture. From there, the mystery grows to include Washington lawyers, a suit regarding mineral rights on a Colorado ranch, and a subplot involving cattle rustling. Jim Chee, who has been promoted to replace the retired Joe Leaphorn, must deal with administrative and personnel problems, as well as his collapsing relationship with his girlfriend. Leaphorn, bored by retirement, comes into the case as an outside consultant (almost a private detective--this may be the only way for him to continue showing up in these books).
I can't remember Hillerman playing so fairly in giving readers clues to his mysteries before. I had this one figured out about two-thirds of the way in. Still, I read Hillerman more for the settings and characters, and on these counts, _The Fallen Man_ doesn't disappoint. The only problem is that now we have to wait for the next one
Rating: 4
Summary: Better than most other mysteries, but not Hillerman's best.
Comment:
I'd been waiting for the new Leaphorn and Chee novel for a long time. This is NOT my favorite in the series; however, it is still a thinking person's novel that happens to evolve around a murder mystery and the conflicts between the cultures of the American West.
The strength of the novel is the development of the two central characters, Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police and Joe Leaphorn, his former boss-now retired. There are, however, a few too many obvious plot devices for this reader to rate this as highly as some of the other Hillerman novels. I'd picked out the probable guilty party relatively early on--in both the main plot and one of the sub-plots. And the scene in which Chee is shot seems formulaic--the sort of formulaic touch of violence that I have come to associate with certain other novelists. (E.g., In a Dick Francis novel, you know the protagonist is going to be shot or beaten up at least once--with sort of noble, non-life-threatening consequences, usually with a semi-heroic endeavor a few pages later. Chee's shooting is not quite that formulaic, but it's as close to that as I've seen in a Hillerman novel.)
The relationship between Anglo and Navajo cultures is not handled as deftly as in some of the earlier novels. For example, Chee's half-Anglo half-Navajo love interest seems a less well-developed character than she has in some of the other novels. And one key similarity between Leaphorn, Chee, and one of the Anglo characters struck me as under-developed, thereby making part of the ending seem less than satisfying.
The book also appears to be the least well-edited of Hillerman's--one character's name replaces another at a key point, and certain phrases of speech are repeated exactly a couple of times.
But because of the characters of Chee and Leaphorn, I was willing to overlook all this and enjoy the novel. Both are terrific fictional characters. I was sorry to see the book end--I wanted to stay with Chee and observe the next chapters in his life.
In short, if you have not read Hillerman before, start with one of his earlier Chee and Leaphorn novels. After you have become interested in these two characters, come back to this novel for the latest chapter in their story. If you are already a Hillerman fan, fear not, the characters are strong enough to make this a solid, above-average read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Hillerman's Fallen Man
Comment: Joe Leaphorn follows a convoluted trail from the top of Shiprock to a rocky hillside, following a killer through time. Leaphorn's methodical ways -- and sometimes fey reasoning -- provide a just resolution, oddly merciful, to a situation that had to end.
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Title: The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0061097853 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Hunting Badger by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0061097861 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.50 |
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Title: Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0061092606 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: August, 1994 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Wailing Wind by Tony Hillerman ISBN: 0061098795 Publisher: HarperTorch Pub. Date: 25 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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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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