Kiss of the Bees: A Novel of Suspense [Mass Market Paperback]

J.A. Jance (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2001

Twenty years ago, a darkness rose up out of the blistering heat of the Arizona desert and descended upon the Walker family of Tucson. A personified evil, a serial killer named Andrew Carlisle, brought blood and terror into their world, nearly murdering Diana Ladd Walker and her young son, Davy. Now much has changed. The family has grown larger. There's Lani, the beloved adopted daughter -- a beautiful Native American teenager "kissed by the bees" and destined, according to Tohono 0'othham lore, to become a woman of great spiritual power. And now that the psychopath Carlisle has died in prison, Brandon and Diana Walker believe that their long nightmare is finally over.

They are wrong.

The monster is dead, but his malevolence lives on...in another.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Jance takes time out from her popular series featuring lawyer J.P. Beaumont (Breach of Duty) and Sheriff Joanna Brady (Outlaw Mountain) with this many-layered but overplotted suspense novel, set in the Arizona desert and suffused with the mystery and otherworldliness of Papago Indian folklore. Ex-con Mitch Johnson takes revenge on prize-winning author Diana Ladd Walker and former Tucson sheriff Brandon Walker by abducting their adopted teenage Papago daughter, Lani . (Years earlier, Brandon arrested Mitch for killing two illegal aliens; Diana blinded and maimed Mitch's prison cellmate when he attacked her.) Just as the vicious Apaches were the Papagos' most feared enemies, so the unredeemingly vile Mitch is the Walkers' relentless waking nightmare, prone to torture. As the search for Lani accelerates, the interplay among the large cast of Anglo and Indian characters, bound together by kinship, upbringing and respect or animosity, increases. The baggage they bring to the story and their interlocking relationships could overwhelm a less accomplished writer, but Jance has a sure hand. As she cuts from one set of characters to another, as well as from past to present, she creates a coherent and engrossing novel that uses the dreamlike Papago creation myth to artfully combine magic and reality; each chapter is introduced with a pertinent portion of the legend. Unfortunately, a few clunky clues stand out like beacons and when justice finally prevails, it's tied up in a package whose neatness seems more magical than real. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Like the Tohono O'othham figure Kulani O'oks from tribal legend, little Dolores Lanita "Lani" Walker was kissed by the little people--whites would say neglected--and hospitalized for ant bites. Adopted by Tucson writer Diana Ladd and her husband, Brandon Walker, the former Pima County Sheriff, Lani is now a beautiful young teen. Then she is lured and kidnapped by a recently paroled "representative" of Andrew Carlisle, the vicious killer who stalked Diana back in the 1970s and whom she blinded in self-defense (see Jance's Hour of the Hunter). To survive her captor's brutalization and torture, Lani must rely on her instincts and on what she has been taught by Rita Antone, a surrogate grandmother and friend of Diana. Throughout, Tribal Chairman Gabe "Fat Crack" Ortiz's ability to sense Carlisle's evil presence provides leads. The dark tone and graphic violence may turn off all but the most stalwart Jance fans. Recommended with reservations.
---Susan A. Zappia, Paradise Valley Community Coll., Phoenix
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Avon (January 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380805995
• ISBN-13: 978-0380805990
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #892,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

J.A. Jance is the top 10 New York Times bestselling author of the Joanna Brady series; the J. P. Beaumont series; three interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family; and Edge of Evil, the first in a series featuring Ali Reynolds. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jance's Kiss of the Bees is a fully faceted Mystery!, January 5, 2000

By 

Katherine B. Williams (Everett, Washington, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss of the Bees (Hardcover)

As the very effective sequel to Hour of the Hunter, Judith A. Jance has composed another work of genious with Kiss Of The Bees!(KOTB) Those of you who are fans of the regrettably, often-overlooked Hour Of The Hunter(HOTH)will again be rapt with fear and wonderas you read through the pages of this beautifully crafted blend of Native American legend and tradition; South Western culture, and murder. Do not, however, be lulled by the Native American story that begins each chapter, because what follows may be the most chilling description of assault and murder you will ever read!

Jance has a long list of comfortable charaters that recur in her Beaumont and Brady books. "Bone", the wonderful large wolfhound-like mutt/hero that appeared in HOTH and is reprised briefly as a memory in KOTB is such a character. But many characters in KOTB are in one way or the other rising above grave traumas that have occurred in their lives. This is a book in which Jance does not let the reader or the characteras get too comfortable. Dianna Ladd Walker continues to recover from her terrifying experience with Andrew Carlisle.(HOTH) Brandon Walker is cutting and stacking wood to help him deal with the betrayal of his son, Quentin, the disappearance and presumed death of another son, and defeat in his incumbent election for sheriff. Rita Antone/Nana DAHD is orphaned as child; her only son has died, and is living outside of the Native American culture. Lanita Walker lost her natural family and almost died as the result of being badly stung by "Little People"(ants, wasps,and bees)as a toddler.

Andrew Carlisle and Mitch Johnson may be the least comfortable characters that Jance has penned to date. We don't want to kow that people like this really exist. Disturbingly, these characters are difficult to unload once they have made their way into the reader's mind. Would their demises be really be enough to put the away for good?

Loyal Jance readers know that they can depend on her to tie up all of the loose ends before the last sentence is written. Thae fact that many of these characters have survived lives filled with tragic events is a tribute to their strength and complexity. I highly recommend Kiss Of The Bees to mystery readers everywhere, but with fair warning. This book is not a Brady or a Beaumont. It is a Walker. Get this one "hot off the press" and plan to set some time aside for immediate reading! You will not want to put this one down! If you have not read Hour Of The Hunter, you have missed a gem!

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but terrifying, April 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Kiss of the Bees (Hardcover)

In Kiss of the Bees Ms Jance follows the story of the Walker family and the Indian traditions discussed in Hour of the Hunter. However, in this book there is much more detail of the mysteries involved in the Indians' belief in medicine men and women. I found the brutality of the man (tutored by the villain in her first book) who continued to pursue Diana Ladd Walker by tormenting and torturing her 16 year old daughter hard to read. My husband was so turned off he refused to finish the book after the first 50 pages. I stuck with it and found by the end it was a very special story of the power of faith and endurance by a serious young woman much more mature than her 16 years. There are lessons to be learned here, and I am glad I stayed till the end! However, one night at 3 AM I read some of it and couldn't get back to sleep! I prefer Jance's lighter stories, especially about Joanna Brady. But it is interesting that she can also write this kind of book. I have heard her lecture and some of her story is autobiographical--she taught at one time on the reservation, her first husband had gone to the University of Arizona, etc. Interesting how she was able to tie it in.

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jance at Her Best, January 5, 2000

By 

William Seil - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss of the Bees (Hardcover)

J. A. Jance is a superb story teller, and "Kiss of the Bees" is Jance at her best. In it, a convict, Mitch Johnson, under the tutelage of his cellmate and mentor, Andrew Carlisle, is released from prison and carries out a sadistic plot of revenge against a former county sheriff and his family. Jance has done extensive research into Native American folklore, bringing a mythological context to this battle between good and evil. This is a skillfully-plotted thriller that will please the most demanding of armchair adventure seekers.