Skeleton Man [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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On the surface, it's a simple enough story. Billy Tuve, a young Hopi man of limited intelligence, has been arrested after trying to pawn a $20,000 diamond for $20. Is the diamond part of a heist . . . or was it acquired in lawful fashion? The young man soon finds himself a pawn in the middle of bigger stakes as wealthy whites battle to gain his knowledge of where other diamonds might be. The only things keeping him safe are the interventions of those who seek the truth and his cousin, Cowboy Dashee. Soon, Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito find themselves drawn inexorably into the tangled web of greed and spiritual connection that link the past to the present.

Beneath the surface, the story displays all of the grandeur that Navajo cosmology can bring to an odd series of events.

In Skeleton Man, Tony Hillerman has tried something audacious: He's written a Southwestern tragedy along the lines of The Bridge of San Luis Rey to help us reflect on the nature of our spiritual beliefs. Unlike The Bridge of San Luis Rey, we see many different perspectives on what a tragedy and its aftermath mean . . . as a way of assessing our understanding of the hand of Providence.

If you only consider that aspect of the story, Skeleton Man is a success. Chance, faith, Divine Purpose, the balance between the unseen and the seen world and many other perspectives are explored in powerful, effective ways.

In the middle of that philosophical journey, Mr. Hillerman puts the traditional battle of the sexes into a sharp contrast as two determined women provide much of the impetus that bring tragic events back into natural harmony.

The context is as great as one can imagine for such a story: A decades-old tragedy over the skies of the Grand Canyon followed by a dangerous journey into the very depths of the canyon today amid a powerful "male" storm. Shakespeare would have approved.

Why then did I grade the story down to three stars? The story telling doesn't quite work as smoothly as it should . . . which is a surprise in a Tony Hillerman book. The introduction foreshadows the events a bit too much . . . so the element of surprise is not as great as it should be thereafter. In addition, the last half of the book narrates the story in great detail from the differing perspectives of the characters. While that allows for the contrasts to develop nicely, it also serves to make the story unwieldy and slow to develop to its inevitable conclusion. The second half of the book should be been greatly condensed for more impact.

If you love Tony Hillerman, you'll still enjoy the story. You should just realize that Skeleton Man not the normal Hillerman police procedural with a thorny criminal mystery at its center while the Native American characters develop their spiritual lives.

In this book many of our old friends wrap up their story. We meet a few new friends. And if I did not know any better I would say Tony was wrapping up his writing career.

Many reviewers and readers would like tell Tony how to write his stories; I would also. However the path that Tony chooses is what makes his writing unique. I did notice that the good guys and the bad guys were black and white hats. Hillerman relied very heavily on us reading of his previous books before this latest story. We get a tad of Hopi and Navajo religion, a dabble of what the region looked like, and a short history of what happened to old friends are no longer take part in the story; I've often wondered what happened to the cat.

A generation ago two airplanes crash over the Grand Canyon. One plane carries a man with a case of diamonds attached to his arm. Someone is after the diamonds. Someone is after the arm. And everyone is looking for a mysterious stranger down in the Grand Canyon. We along with their old friends Jim Chee, and Joe Leaphorn, let's not forget the demure and cunning Bernie Manuelito, get to search together for this mysterious stranger would ever lurking bad guys just around the corner waiting to do us in.

So sit back and enjoy this quick but intense story. If you get a chance you will also want to purchase the recorded version by George Guidall. I heard both Guidall and Hillerman and they sound a lot alike.

When Billy Tuve a simpleminded kid is caught trying to pawn a very expensive diamond that was reported stolen years before from a trading post owner Shorty McGinnis. Retired Navajo Tribal policeman Joe Leaphorn is asked to join the local law enforcement and unofficially look into the case. Both Tuve and Mc Ginnins have a very similar tale as to how they acquired the diamond... Both claimed to have traded with an old shaman (medicine man), their stories caught the attention of many other people.

This mystery is straightforward and pretty much predictable. I found the author kept repeating himself each time he introduced a new character and after hearing the story of the diamonds three or four times it takes a toll. This is the first novel I have read by this author and I was totally disappointed with it.

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