Lizard Skin [Hardcover]

Carsten Stroud (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1992

Checking out a reported robbery at Joe Bell's truck stop, Montana State Highway Patrolman Beau McAllister stumbles upon a shootout between Joe Bell and a band of Dakota Indians.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Widowed and divorced, with 19 years on the Montana Highway Patrol, Sgt. Beau McAllister employs deadly wit and disarming humor to defend himself emotionally. Stroud offers a pleasure of the page similar to that afforded by Raymond Chandler as his prairie gumshoe investigates a truck-stop shootout that escalates into extortion and recreates Old West horrors whose victims are Native Americans. In a solid workingman's plot, with neither the astro-artillery of drug novels nor the corporate confusions of syndicate crime, McAllister, who buried his first wife, a Crow Indian, and is battling his second for visitation rights with their young daughter, tracks the far-reaching causes and effects of the case. Stroud, whose nonfiction bestseller Close Pursuit probed the milieu of the NYPD, authoritatively depicts police-radio cross talk, clinical crime-scene details and courtroom tricks. Comfortable on pastureland and reservation, in bars off the interstate, in the mountains and even East L.A., McAllister is a credible, quotably funny and deeply realized figure.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Stroud moves his ongoing and powerful police-paean (Sniper's Moon, 1990; Close Pursuit, 1987) from Manhattan to Montana--and rustles up a bronco of a thriller that throws him near the end of the ride. The myth of the West inspires Stroud to some bravura writing here--his pages practically exhale prairie dust--and some terrific characters, starting with Montana Highway Patrol Sgt. Beau McAllister, 45, responding to a robbery report at Joe Bell's truck stop. There, McAllister finds an Indian boy shot dead by Bell, who's now blasting away at four other Indians shooting back with bow and arrow from the shadows of Bell's huge oil tank--reason enough (to prevent a deadly explosion) for McAllister to plug Bell in the buttocks. The Indians escape and Bell threatens to sue, but that's the least of McAllister's troubles, with sleek A.D.A. Vanessa Ballard thinking of bringing him up on charges, and McAllister's shrewish ex-wife and her lawyer-lover trying to drive a dirty wedge between the cop and his young daughter. Even those problems, though, don't match the one posed by Hollywood stuntman Gabriel Picketwire, Lakota Sioux and ex-Army assassin, returning to Montana to avenge the death of the boy shot by Bell. By the time Picketwire catches up to Bell, McAllister has fought the escapees in terrifying nighttime hand-to-hand combat and killed one--prelude to Picketwire's confrontation with Bell, which sees the Indian shot and buried alive, dug up by a dog, and then stalking Bell to skin him alive. All this tremendously virile action derails, however, when McAllister ferrets out the reason for the Indians' attack on Bell--a medical conspiracy so far-fetched it might give even Robin Cook pause, and headed by a most unconvincing villain. Lop off the mixed-up final 50 pages or so, though, and you have a cops-vs.-Indians novel to rival John Sandford's Shadow Prey. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 374 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; First Edition edition (August 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553089358
• ISBN-13: 978-0553089356
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,798,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just terrific!, February 5, 2003

By 

Charlotte Vale-Allen (CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lizard Skin (Hardcover)

This was Stroud's first novel, after two works of non-fiction. And unlike most journalists who have great difficulty making the transition from fact-based writing to fiction, Stroud has no problem at all. This is an outstanding book: characters so real you can practically touch them, humor so outrageous that sections provoke out-loud laughter, a complex completely viable plot-line, and sections of writing lyrically simple and beautifully constructed. Stroud is one wonderful writer.

Aside from all the above assets, the author's feel for place is so powerful that Montana comes alive in its vistas, its climate and its denizens. There's also a lot of native American history, integral to the plot, that isn't sentimentalized but made to come alive--via hero Beau McAllister's sensibilities.

A good author always, always leaves the reader wanting more. Lizardskin is a signal accomplishment in that it practically begs for a sequel. Stroud has gone on to write other, equally fine books, resisting the temptation to overwork a winning hand. Smart fellow, first-class writer.
My highest recommendation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong characters, June 15, 2000

By 

Jeff Cordell - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lizard Skin (Hardcover)

I've reviewed Carsten Stroud in the past. I've always stressed his atmosphere and characters. In my opinion he excells in his books at being able to take you into the story and make you genuinely care for his chatracters. the same is true of Lizardskin, but here his dialouge is also very finely done. Yes the conclusion is a little weak but it's such a pleasure getting there that I will readily forgive Mr. Stroud and his Robin Cook ending. Actually I found myself enjoying the story so much that I really wasn't in all that much of a rush to see it end. I have read this novel several times over the years and every time I enjoy it immensely. Read this novel if you enjoy storytelling at its finest.

3.0 out of 5 stars Great book, except for the end., February 12, 2005

By 

DWD "DWD's Reviews" (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Lizardskin (Paperback)

This novel features veteran Montana state trooper Beau MacAllister, a wise-cracking good ol' boy who has great instincts and is not too concerned with protocal. Beau is called to a truck stop to stop a robbery in progress - but the whole thing seems fishy to him and he ends up shooting the supposed victim in the butt during a 3 way fight between Beau, the "victim" and several Indians using compound bows. Beau suspects something is amiss and tugs on this loose thread until he finds the conspiracy.

The characters in this story are well-written - Beau is particulrly well developed, especially for a cop novel. The DA character (Vanessa Ballard) is quite memorable and "feels" like a real person, rather than a caricature. Even McAllister's nemesis, Dwight Hogelan, shows signs of growth during the book.

All of this makes the end of the book very disappointing. The first 90% of the book is a great cop thriller - but the end is very hoaky and formulaic. It is like he finished the book under pressure and ran out of time. For example, he was maneuvering an Indian character into becoming a second Crazy Horse destined to lead a spiritual revival of the Plains Indians. However, 50 pages of character development was quickly dismissed in one page at the end. Why bother?

Due to the disappointing end of this novel I have to lower the rating for this book from 5 stars to 3 stars.