Monthly Archives: September 2018

character, head, heart, mystery, reviews, setting

Anne Hillerman — Cave of Bones

Anne Hillerman is Tony Hillerman’s daughter. Father Tony started a series of novels about Leaphorn and Chee, two Navaho tribal policemen in the four corners area of New Mexico. Anne continued the series adding Tribal Police Officer Bernadette (Bernie) Manuelito, who married Chee.

Many incidents keep Bernie occupied:

  • A young girl, Annie, wanders off from an outreach program on the lava fields. Her instructor/trail guide goes looking for her. Even though Annie returns the next morning, the guide is unexpectedly missing. He is very familiar with the area.
  • Annie found ancient bones in a cave. When Bernie later checks the cave, she finds the site has been disturbed. It appears someone has been illegally stealing artifacts from a sacred Navajo site.
  • Bernie finds a wrecked pickup truck with the driver still inside, apparently hallucinating. He dies in the hospital.
  • A blizzard shuts down the highway and Bernie’s car slides off the road.
  • A box that Bernie took from the pickup to deliver for the driver is stolen from her car.
  • And more…

Many of these incidents end up being related in the end.

Chee is in Santa Fe taking some courses for his job. He is asked to check on a woman’s son who has quit communicating with her. The son also ends up missing. He also checks on Bernie’s sister who is taking a class at an art school. He doesn’t trust her boyfriend.

The plot is intricate with many hints about what is happening throughout the story. At times, I felt Bernie brushed aside her instincts and ignored what could have led her to a quick conclusion.

Author Anne Hillerman obviously loves the land of New Mexico. Her descriptions are beautiful. She also has a great interest in the Navaho customs and traditions.

In the past, I’ve read some of Tony Hillerman’s books. This is the first I’ve read by Anne Hillerman.

I enjoyed the trip through New Mexico, the Navajo background information, the characters, and the story.

character, head, heart, horror, mystery, on reading, reviews, romance, setting, thriller

Nora Roberts — Shelter in Place

This month my library “books-by-mail” service sent two books by romance writers—Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts and Shattered Mirror by Iris Johansen. I’m not a fan of romance novels and had both authors categorized in my brain as a romance writers. But I read both, and neither were romance novels. I wasn’t thrilled with Johansen’s book. The characters felt flat to me. But Robert’s book was a different story.

I haven’t read anything by Nora Roberts in many years. Shelter in Place was a very pleasant surprise. The plot was intriguing, the characters pulled me in, and I enjoyed the visit to the Maine coast.

The story starts with a mass shooting at a Mall in Portland. We see this horrible event from several characters points of view. Robert’s follows some of the survivors through the next few years, all dealing with the shock to their lives in different ways. Then a serial killer starts murdering survivors.

In the last third of the book there is a romance blossoming. But that’s forgivable. Many good thrillers and mysteries serve up a side dish of romance.

I thoroughly enjoyed Shelter in Place.

action/adventure, character, head, heart, humor, mystery, reviews, setting, style, thriller

Lee Child — The Midnight Line: A Jack Reacher Novel

A few days ago I watched a video of Stephen King interviewing Lee Child. Two of my favorite authors talking about writing—I loved it. In the interview, Lee Child talked about his lack of plotting. He said he asks a question at the beginning of the book and answers it by the end.

A friend had dropped off a copy of Child’s The Midnight Line and it was at the bottom of my “to read” pile next to my bed. I moved it to the top of the pile and quickly consumed it. I found that not only is there an unanswered question at the beginning, but there are more questions cropping up throughout the book. Each question needs to be answered, not necessarily in the order they appear in the story. The original question is answered long before the end of the book, but there are so many more that need answers, which kept me reading to the end.

In The Midnight Line Reacher finds a woman’s West Point class ring in a pawn shop in Wisconsin. His curiosity about why someone would pawn a ring that is so difficult to earn leads him to track her down and find out why. Reacher smells trouble and in his usual vigilante style sets out to solve the mystery and save the damsel in distress. His trek takes him through South Dakota into a sparsely populated corner of Wyoming.

Pronghorn in Wyoming

I read some reviews on Amazon and found a number who were not happy with this book. (Many more gave it high ratings.) The low raters all seemed to think it didn’t have enough action and violence. To me, there is much more to a Reacher novel than violence, and this one had plenty of action even though he wasn’t killing a lot of people.

I find Child’s unique writing style fascinating. I’m not sure I can describe it. Rhythmic, quick, and precise are words that come to mind. This book has an underlying theme about the current opiate addiction crisis and the government’s poor treatment of veterans. He gives in-depth pictures of characters and lets us follow Reacher’s calculation and planning. We even get a look at the possible thoughts and behaviors of addicts. Child took me on a journey through the back-country of Southern Wyoming.

The book has all of my three H’s—head, heart, and humor. I feel he’s an excellent writer and storyteller. He doesn’t follow the rules, but that makes the reading more interesting. You never know what to expect.