Customer Reviews

The Sinister Pig

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I share the sentiments of my fellow reviewers - this was contrived, shallow and a total let-down. It was as if Mr. Hillerman hired out the writing. I am a total fan, and eagerly awaited the book. Now I will eagerly await the next one. I am always an optimist.

It's quite clear that Tony Hillerman has squeezed the last ounce of blood from this turnip. You know he's run out of ideas for his venerable Native American heroes when he's more interested in the villains of the book than the cops.

This book, definitely the worst in the series, is as flat as a pancake from start to finish, with a "mystery" as complex as an Encyclopedia Brown story. Chee and Leaphorn have basically nothing to do in this story except pass on endless, awkward exposition. Side characters slide in and out with no real purpose. The only cop who Hillerman seems to be interested in, the fetching Bernie Manuelito, becomes a helpless pawn in a macho boy's game of drugs and power. Even Hillerman's trademark Ansel Adams-esque descriptions of the southwestern scenery seem minimized and irrelevant. Hillerman can't even figure out how to end it properly, resorting to a horridly uncharacteristic "epilogue" that seems like it was written two hours before deadline.

This series really does have a lot of legs in it, but Hillerman no longer seems to have the energy to keep it moving. Perhaps it's time for someone else to take over with Hillerman serving as consultant. Because it would be a shame for Chee and Leaphorn to continue on the downward spiral that has plagued Hillerman's most recent efforts.

OK, I thought, "The Wailing Wind" was an aberration, a hiccup in the career of a very good author. But two points define a line, and "The Sinister Pig" plots Mr. Hillerman's career straight down. In the corporate world you sometimes see a luminary from an earlier era who is "RIP" -- retired in place -- just going through the motions, living on past glories and collecting the big bucks for his reputation, not his current work. Sadly, this describes Tony Hillerman, who has decided to stir around a few ashes, thow in a highly predictable conclusion, and call it a novel. I bet he's laughing at his readers all the way to the bank.

As for the book itself, reviewers occasionally describe a film as "OK for a 10-minute sketch on SNL, but not a 90-minute feature." That's Sinister Pig for you: interesting premise but almost no plot or character development (call central casting for all the stereotypes), no suspense (you know from the start who's really a bad guy and who's really not), and the shallowest of literary style (like Wailing Wind, everyone is constantly "grinning" at everyone else). The initial plot device, investigating diversion of Indian royalty payments, is both interesting and topical -- it's really happening -- but couldn't lead to a facile wrap-up in a mere 224 pages, so Mr. Hillerman switches to just another standard contraband tale. Rest assured, the good guys prosper, the bad guys pay, and the bad guys who are really good guys ... well, what do you expect?

I did like the little polemics on stealing of Indian royalties, the vested interest of both narcos and narcs in keeping the "War on Drugs" going full steam, and the pervasiveness of corruption in high office, but they weren't enough to salvage an otherwise trivial work.

If Mr. Hillerman hasn't retired completely, I'll wait until his next book is available in the public domain before reading it.

I am a devoted Hillerman fan and have read (and sometimes re-read) all of his books. I anxiously awaited publication of Sinister Pig to feed my Hillerman Jones.

I don't know who wrote this book, but it wasn't Hillerman. It was poorly plotted, with weak character definition and bad dialog.

What's a fan to do?

Not quite the Hillerman formula but done well just the same. All our old friends are in this story and it looks like everything can get wrapped up if Hillerman decided would be his last. However it looks like there is at least one more novel and probably two. In this novel we get to be into the heads of the good guys and bad guys from the start as they banter around.

An ex-CIA spy with knowledge of the oil industry is sent to find out information on how oil companies bypass paying royalty money to the First Nations Trust Fund. He ends up committing suicide with a bullet in the back. Mean while way down south Bernie now with the U.S. Customs Service gets lost, goes off the map, and puts her foot in it.

Bernie's co-worker gets suspicious and tells Joe. Jim gets out some snaps; Joe gets out his maps; Bourbonette gets out the coffee and brains. They hold a committee to figure out what is happening.

Will Bernie smell what she stepped in, or just walk right in to her demise?

Will the cavalry arrive over the hill in time (does not look promising?)

Who or what is the "Sinister Pig?"

The charm of Hillerman's books is the place and the people. The familiar characters are here in a slightly different setting, though I think his books with Jim Chee or Joe Leaphorn are stronger than those with both characters. Hillerman's stories have their own pace, and this one like others moves along leisurely to a fast finish. The plot is clever, and reprises Hillerman's themes of corrupt Easterners and Byzantine law enforcement agencies. It's a good read.
The edition I read, though, was the single worst proof-read book I have ever encountered, beginning with the author's forward. The publisher should have been embarrassed to release it.

I, like many Hillerman fans, waited anxiously for Sinister Pig. Unfortunately, when it arrived I was disappointed. The story has potential, but fails to reach it. It's like Hillerman was told write your story using only X number of words, then you're done regardless of whether the story is filled out and completed or not. Is this the end of Chee and Leaphorn??

This novel demonstrates the spare, elegant prose and tight plot that characterizes Hillerman at his best - as in Blessing Way or Dark Wind. Then too, the characters we have come to love, Jim Chee, Joe Leaphorn and even the interloping Cowboy Dashee as well as Jim Chee's latest heartbreaker, Bernie Manuelito, are center stage. So why the grousing. Perhaps Hillerman fans expected more fireworks after the two most recent clunkers. Or maybe, with the same cast in place, readers expected Hillerman to continue his exploration and exposition of the cultures of the native peoples of the southwest. But as Hillerman moves his action further south, he leaves much of the Navaho ethos behind, and the distinct customs of a people fade as the writer brings the Sonoran landscape to the foreground. Tellingly it is described as even more vacant, more of a vacuum of living things than the "Four Corners" setting of earlier novels. Bernie, now with the Customs Patrol carries extra plastic jugs of water in her vehicle, and she will need them as she discovers thirsty illegals stranded in the desert. Principal characters getting lost because of undistinguishable landmarks ( unthinkable on Navaho land ) leads more than once to important plot turns. Readers similarly may be exploring new and unfamiliar territory which is a bit more uncomfortable because of the presence of the familiar in different roles. If this is not classic Hillerman, it is still very good Hillerman, a differently focused Hillerman, and an entertaining read.

This book seems to be Tony Hillerman attempting to masquerade as James Patterson. Some familiar characters, a murder and related violence, short chapters, almost continual action and extremely limited character development. (Eliminate the many blank pages between chapters and it is barely two hundred small pages of large type. Thus, it is overpriced.)

The story has great potential. It has the well known characters of Sergeant Jim Chee of the Navajo Tribal Police and Bernie Manuelito, now separated geograpically from Chee as a rookie Border Patrol officer and with the future of their relationship in doubt. When a puzzling murder in Chee's jurisdiction intersects with Bernie's work, the retired "Legendary Lieutenant " Joe Leaphorn is called upon for consultation. At the same time there seems to be a puzzling interest emanating from a powerful source in Washington, D.C. concerning the ramifications of the case.

There is an intimation that the dead man may have been investigating the actual scandal concerning the loss (probably due to a combination of theft, embezzlement, indifference and incompetence) of billions of dollars of royalties from the Indian Tribal Royalty Fund held in trust by the Department of the Interior. This is a topic with great potential for an author with Hillerman's skills and knowledge, but it becomes peripheral to a pretty standard police procedural combined with the mystery of how the romance between Bernie and Jim will conclude. There is some excellent misdirection regarding both the nature of the underlying crinimal activity and its participants and who or what is the real "SINISTER PIG". But a lot of the oppportunities to develop the potential plot complications and resultant suspense were simply never pursued. Also, there were several loose ends that were never satisfactorily tied up despite the attempt to do so in the epilogue. (I cannot go into details without revealing too much of the plot.) It is almost as if Hillerman had an outline for a wonderfully complex story and then decided it was too complicated and so decided to quickly bring this part of the story to a close and leave the rest for a sequel.

As the title of my review implies, a few elements helped me decide to generously round up my rating to three stars. First, the plot is clever, and there is sufficient misdirection to keep the reader's interest. Second, it involves familiar characters. Third, this is a incredibly fast read. It is definitely a book for a short trip or a rainy afternoon. So if you are a Hillerman fan, lower your expectations and enjoy a few hours updating yourself on the latest happenings in New Mexico.

For the dedicated Hillerman reader, this latest may be disappointing. We have become accustomed to excellent mysteries which are also anthropology lessons. In almost if not every story of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, Tony Hillerman has presented his readers with lessons about many facets of the southwestern Native American culture, the problems this culture faces. This novel is more a straight thriller, without significant overtones of cultural stress and adaptation. The basic plot line does have a Native American connection. It seems that the Department of the Interior is responsible for a trust fund for Native Americans. The trust is where royalties and other payments for oil, gas, timber, and other sales from reservation lands are deposited so that the money can be used for the benefit of the tribes. It also seems that tens of billions of dollars which should be in the trust are not, and there doesn't seem to be any explanation. A senator hires a retiring CIA specialist in pipelines to investigate what is happening in the "four-corners" territory, especially as it related to activities of a billionaire recluse who may be dabbling in hard drugs as well as petroleum. The implication is that the billionaire is diverting gas and oil from the pipeline and avoiding paying royalties-or anything else. The covert investigator is found murdered on the reservation and Jim Chee is the investigating officer. But the FBI claims jurisdiction, transfers case management to Washington, and then stonewalls. Chee wonders why the apparent cover-up and keeps on digging. Enough waves are made that DC people involved in investigating the trust fund situation wonder if there is a connection and ask Joe Leaphorn, now retired, to look into the case. What follows is a very good thriller, with unlikely "heroes" and bad guys getting their just desserts. The implications of Washington insider conspiracies are raised but never resolved; yet, while not quite up to Hillerman's stories which do have stronger cultural lessons, this is a very good book. PS: the sinister pig is not Native American but pipeline related. Read the book to find out what the title reference is about.