Customer Reviews

DREAM OF A FALLING EAGLE: A Mongo Mystery

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Not Chesbro's best Mongo book, but any Mongo adventure is a good read (at least for me). Substitute 1997 U.S. Congress and its majority leader into the political references, add recent headlines of dubious CIA activities, mix in voodoo, violent, gory deaths, and stir with Mongo and bother Garth in some near-death experiences. The result is paranoia, politics and adventure (not necessarily in that order).

Mongo is one of those few characters who never wears thin. Chesbro's plots are always on the goofy-paranoid side, and this one is no exception. Don't get me wrong, the plot moves along and holds together, but one has to suspend disbelief immediately upon opening the book. But don't read this or any Mongo mystery for the plot, as fun and fantastic as it may be. Read it for the character, Mongo, and his brother and friends. There is no more likable character, detective or otherwise, in fiction. Chesbro's narrative voice is always pitched perfectly, and even if you don't buy his politics, you can't help but like him. Read it. Then go back and read them all

Not Chesbro's best Mongo book, but any Mongo adventure is a good read (at least for me). Substitute 1997 U.S. Congress and its majority leader into the political references, add recent headlines of dubious CIA activities, mix in voodoo, violent, gory deaths, and stir with Mongo and brother Garth in some near-death experiences. The result is paranoia, politics and adventure (not necessarily in that order).

I've generally loved Chesbro's books, but in this one and in the Language of Cannibals, he prefers to launch political diatribes rather than worry about telling a story. Whether you agree or not with his left wing tirades that turn aging hippies and former communists into heroes (as in Cannibals), if you're fair and objective, you'll agree that his eagerness to make a point interferes with his normal storytelling prowess, and his paranoia becomes a Johnny-one-note theme. The entire plot, from the opening sentence, is a long, paranoid tirade. Read some of the finer books in this series like Rings, Shadow of a Broken Man, etc.