Customer Reviews

Frozen Sun: A Nathan Active Mystery (The Nathan Active Mysteries)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was my first book by Stan Jones, but I WILL find the others! I was reading even as they were taking me down to the holding room to prep me for hernia surgery. I hate and despise to be cold (I'm from Mississippi), but reading about the intense cold didn't stop me. I'm looking forward with great anticipation to reading those of his that I've missed, and wish I didn't have to wait for the one on the burner! Go ye, therefore, and READ!

This atmospheric mystery skillfully exploits its unusual Alaskan setting. Its backdrop is the plight of some of the native people as well as those of mixed heritage, such as the protagonist Nathan Active.
Active works for the Alaskan police and is posted in the remote settlement of Chukchi. The book begins when the high school principal asks him to track down his daughter, a former beauty queen who ran off several years before.
The trail leads Active to the squalid stip joints of Achorage and a miserable, fish factory in the rain-drenched Aleutian Islands.
Active is entranced by the beautiful woman he is chasing, and unwilling to abandon the investigation even when it appears she's dead. At the same time, he pursues a half-hearted affair with a sexy young woman back home, to whom he offers great sex but no emotional commitment.
Soon we're involved in an Alaskan version of "Chinatown", the famous Polanski movie.
Jones offers a fairly broad cast of well-drawn characters and an easy familiarity with Inupiat culture.
The plot of this book generates little suspense so it's not exactly a page-turner, but the setting and characters are so interesting and unusual that it kept me reading avidly to the end.
[...]

I'm always looking for new mystery series, and the stellar reviews for Jones' books were encouraging. But I won't be reading any more Nathan Active books. The plot was thin, the author kept telegraphing the next revelation (what's the point of a mystery if there's no suspense?), the characters weren't believable, the dialogue less so, and there are annoying stylistic tics.

Surprisingly, there isn't much sense of place, which is a shame since Alaska's an interesting state. I've been to Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians, where some of the book takes place, and it's a good thing, because I wouldn't have been able to picture it from the author's description (it rains, it's cold....). Likewise the town Chukchi, where Nathan lives, isn't any more vivid (it's snowy, it's cold). Also, I would have expected there to be more tension in Nathan's character itself: an Inupiat raised by whites, there should be internal struggle that, while alluded to, doesn't come through.

Clearly I'm in the minority here, but this book is mediocre.

Author Stan Jones makes you feel like a native Alaskan. He writes about the Eskimo culture with sensitivity and realism, keeping the exotic comfortably in place alonside the mundane. In this offering, Jones takes Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active from the rugged Bering Sea coast to the seedy dives of Anchorage to the wild, rainy Aleutian outpost of Dutch Harbor, as he tries to track down a missing hometown girl who has mysteriously flown the coop. In this book, we gaze more deeply into the personality of Active -- a most human character, who carries some emotional baggage, not the least of which is his half-breed status and conflicts about love and women. Jones writes simply but vividly; his books are a masterpiece of plot and pacing. There's not a lot of police stuff -- no shoot-'em-up action -- but once you start, you won't be able to put this book down. This is a real good procedural -- a worthy change of pace by a very good, underrated author.

I'm a tender soul. I tend to read Stan Jones' Nathan Active books in the heat of a Sonoran Desert summer while sitting in the pool. Why? Because they take place at the Arctic Circle, and the wind, snow, darkness, and booming crack of pack ice can freeze me down to the bone!

Nathan Active is an Alaska State Trooper. He is also Inupiat. (What most of us would call Eskimo.) As a child, he was adopted by a white couple in Anchorage, and this has given him rather mixed emotions about his heritage. Now he's living in the small village of Chukchi where his mother is. He has a girlfriend, Lucy Generous, and he's just been asked to begin an investigation that's going to put this relationship at risk.

High school principal Jason Palmer has asked Active to find his daughter, Grace, a former beauty queen. His search leads him halfway across Alaska, to the notorious Four Street in Anchorage all the way to the Aleutian Islands. The photos of Grace show a beautiful girl, and Active wonders why she would ultimately wind up on Four Street-- Anchorage's version of Skid Road. As he slowly gathers facts together, he has to ask himself, is Grace Palmer dead...or is she a murderer?

My rating is a bit down for this one because I knew almost from the beginning why Grace Palmer disappeared. I think I've read a few too many mysteries and have just become adept at suspecting characters' motivations. However, my educated guess took very little away from my enjoyment of this book because characters like Nathan and Lucy are so strong.

This is one of my favorite mystery series for its characterization, its plots, and its setting. Actually the setting is just as much a character in these books as Nathan Active himself. Jones provides an enthralling glimpse into a culture and a landscape that are completely different from what most of us know. He uses common Inupiat words sparingly and provides a glossary at the front of each book so that we not only know what the words mean, but we learn how to pronounce them.

If you like your mysteries strong on character and plot and with a glimpse into a landscape and culture which are very different from your own, you can't go wrong with this series by Stan Jones-- even if you have to read them in the summer like I do!

I started the Nathan Active series with Frozen Sun. It is really great; so great I don't know what he is going to do for an encore. The dominant character in the book is dazzling.

I quickly got the first two Active books, which I will read in proper order.

The descriptions of the villages, towns and life are fascinating.

DON'T miss it, FROZEN SUN.

Thoroughly enjoyed the story as well as the cultural and environmental aspects. Not just a mystery plopped down in "anywhere" but one completely integrated into the exotic locale. Good read. Good experience.

I have enjoyed all three book so far in this series but this one is the best so far. The series is wonderful on so many levels as it gives the reader a look into a culture most of us know little about. Also the central character is a complex young man dealing with many issues rarely written about. A must read for real mystery buffs.

Alaskan State Trooper Nathan Active once again returns to the pages amid the Alaskan wilderness and its cities and towns. It also takes us into the webs that man creates for himself. I was so glad to see this title printed in English since it had only been in German. Can't wait for the 2009 title to be released.

I've read all of Stan Jones' books in this series. Love the reality of modern Alaska culture. Enjoy the characters' personalities. Interesting plots. Want MORE! I keep up on his website. Next one comes out soon.