- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Soho Crime (Dec 1 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1569476063
- ISBN-13: 978-1569476062
- Product Dimensions: 19.5 x 14 x 2.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 481 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #466,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Review
“In the fourth book of this enchanting series set in Alaska ... [Jones has] created a richly populated universe you’ll be sorry to leave.”—People
“Chilling.... Fascinating.”—USA Today
“Fans of Tony Hillerman’s Jim Chee novels will appreciate the direct, wistful storytelling style of Stan Jones. And if life in northwest Alaska seems bleak with its poverty and hard cold, the strong bonds connecting Nathan Active to the people he serves and lives with have their own appeal. Most of all, Village of the Ghost Bears is a solid crime story—one good for any armchair detective.”—Sacramento News and Review
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Product Description
Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active must figure out what connects a dead hunter on a remote Arctic lake with a year-old fatal plane crash in the Brooks Range and a fire that killed eight people.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dress warmly for this adventure, Nov 7 2009
By Patto - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Village Of the Ghost Bears: A Nathan Active Mystery (Hardcover)
I look forward intensely, with any mystery by Stan Jones, to simply soaking up the atmosphere in this remote Arctic corner of Alaska.
Here the buildings stand on pilings to avoid being swallowed by melting permafrost. Polar bears have their own heaven somewhere out on the ice. A father might reincarnate as a husky to watch over his daughter. Spirits in dreams can inspire murder. And the reader starts feeling half Inupiat (Eskimo) a quarter into the book.
Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active is the brains behind any investigation in the town of Chuckchi. He's part Inupiat, part white, and would rather be in the civilized city of Anchorage. But he's stuck for the moment in backward Chuckchi, his current post. Despite the handicap of some white blood, Nathan is amazingly resourceful in the wild. He's also attractive to women. Only his girlfriend can resist him.
The crime facing Nathan and his fellow troopers in this book is the burning down of the local Rec Center. Eight people died, and it looks like arson. The motive eludes everyone, as the investigation takes bewildering turns through jealous rivalries and illegal activities (like selling bear gallbladders to the Russians and Koreans).
Stan Jones spent some time as a bush pilot, and he can always be relied upon to give us a harrowing ride or two in small planes through frightening conditions.
With Nathan Active, Jones has created a likeable, thoughtful, mild-mannered hero who shoots only when necessary - but can turn into a fearless daredevil on a manhunt. Although notoriously manly, Nathan is not above consulting an Inupiat healer for advice on his love life. I'd recommend reading every novel in this series, in order if you can.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
terrific Alaskan thriller, Nov 20 2009
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Village Of the Ghost Bears: A Nathan Active Mystery (Hardcover)
Inupiaq Alaskan state trooper Nathan Active is camping with his beloved Grace when they find a corpse in a creek. The pike had eaten away the face of the deceased.
Soon afterward someone sets a fire to the recreation center in the remote village of Chukchi. Eight people including the police chief die in the deadly inferno.
Nathan investigates both cases of homicide. At the same time, apparent polar bear poaching, an illegal act as the animal is protected by law, makes his inquiry much more dangerous and convoluted especially the body in the brook inquiry.
The latest Nathan Active police procedural (see Frozen Sun) is a terrific Alaskan thriller that hooks the reader early with its stark beautiful description of remote Alaska mostly from an aerial view. Nathan is his super self working exciting twisting investigations into homicides and poaching that look like Bridges to Nowhere except for his diligence, and his romance enhances the plot as he turns to a native healer for advice. However, Alaska owns this super tale as Stan Jones provides a deep look at a remote part of the state.
Harriet Klausner
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some Missed Opportunities, Dec 6 2011
By Jon Gerloff - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Village of the Ghost Bears: A Nathan Active Mystery Set in Alaska (Paperback)
I like the main character here, Alaskan State Trooper Nathan Active, and I like the setting, a small village/city on the outskirts of the northern tundra. What I didn't particularly like was the storytelling itself. There was some real missed opportunities to keep the reader guessing in classic whodunit mode. In the hands of a more experienced, better writer, this book would have taut with tension. But instead of keeping the reader guessing at the most crucial moments, he wraps things up way too conveniently, making the fatal mistake of telling rather than showing.
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