Customer Reviews

Night of the Jaguar: A Novel

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I read Gruber's first supernatural thriller earlier this month and eagerly sought out all his other books. Imagine my surprise when I found out that NIGHT OF THE JAGUAR was being published this very month! And that it completed a trilogy of supernatural thrillers with Miami detective Iago "Jimmy" Paz. Well, I got my copy as soon as possible and I must say that it doesn't come close in the thrills provided in his first outing TROPIC OF NIGHT (a truly frightening book that presents African sorcery as something impressively real). BUT! NIGHT OF JAGUAR is far more entertaining (often very funny!) as fiction. The scenes with Professor Cooksey and Jenny are my favorites. It's wonderful to read of characters who are so human and decent. I get tired of all the formulaic and stereotyped characters who usually populate this genre. But really the reason to read these extremely intelligent thrillers is to absorb all sides of the philosophical arguments Gruber presents as his intellectual characters match wits and lecture each other on topics such as theology, anthropology, folklore, physics, environmental politics, and...well you name it and you'll probably find it one of his three books. These are well worth your time if you love smartly written, imaginative mysteries that include the truly mysterious, the weird, and the often unfathomable.

The great thing about Michael Gruber's books is that they work on so many levels. The basic level is the thriller/ police novel, where a complex crime is resolved, here in this book as in his two others by Jimmy Paz, Cuban-American detective in Miami. However, Gruber is also a master plotter, and even though he presents his story -- here a series of revenge killings by a Colombian Indian protecting his forest in supernatural jaguar shape -- in a way that it may seem that there will be no surprises, the intricate elements of the plot and the quirks of the characters are shown to be linked. These characters are a mixed bunch, including Paz's psychiatrist wife, physicist genius friend, Colombian drug dealers, Santeria priestess mother and his six year old daughter, whose innocent self confidence is very well drawn. Gruber also brings in a deep consideration of the nature of human consciousness and of religion and its role in daily life, and this, to me is really what makes the book so wonderful

The lines of reality become blurred in this latest addition to Michael Gruber's series of thrillers with Cuban detective Jimmy Paz.

Jimmy Paz is happy with his decision to leave the Miami PD and work in his mother's restaurant, more time to spend with his doctor wife and his precocious 7 year old daughter Amelia. He is not readily willing to be drawn into his ex-partner's newest case when Cuba businessmen are murdered. But when the dreams of he and his family about a jaguar begin to eerily parallel the rumors that a large cat is responsible for the deaths, he becomes immersed in solving the crimes.

Moie has hidden in the hold of a ship to Miami from his jungle to confront the people he has been told are trying to destroy his rainforest home. Soon after he lands he meets up with Jennifer and her group of activists, The Forest People. All of a sudden saving the rainforest is more than just a vague cause. And when Paz realizes Moie is tracking his daughter Amelia and worships the jaguar, Moie is more than just an interesting curiosity.

This the third book in Gruber's trilogy with Jimmy Paz. While the story of Moie and the jaguar is intense, it is Paz's struggle to try to reconcile between his doctor wife's firm insistence on reality only and his mother's Santeria beliefs that makes the story take hold. Jimmy's willingness to put aside his previous differences with his mother, even after learning her shocking secret, to protect his daughter from an unseen, unbelievable enemy makes the story take heart.

This thriller's strength is its main characters that are convincing, even within the paranormal plot line. While the added plots lines of greed, misuse of the earth and the plight of foster children tangle themselves through out the novel, it is the characterizations that keep the story from unraveling.

Night of the Jaguar is smooth and fast and consistently entertaining. In this review I want to take special note of Jonathan Davis' audio performance.

I have heard more than a hundred audiobooks. It is a distinct art form. Davis is the best reader I have ever heard. Each character in the large cast has a clearly identifiable speaking voice, precisely appropriate to age, gender, background, and ethnic origin. The voices never bleed into the narration, nor vice versa. Even sound effects - in this case, the menacing breathy growl of the Jaguar - are perfect.

Congratulations to Michael Gruber for a fine, intelligent supernatural mystery, and to Jonathan Davis for a performance that captures it in living color.

What makes this book different from lots of others in this genre is the extremely well-drawn characters and their distinctive world views. Jenny is a particularly engaging character as she slowly begins to appreciate the fact that she's smarter and tougher than she ever thought she was. By the way, another reviewer commented on Paz's wife suddenly being named "Lola"... but in "Valley of Bones", this was a nickname Paz called her which has obviously stuck now that they're several years married.

Can't wait for this writer's next book.

This is the third Jimmy Paz adventure that I have read and I've enjoyed the series very much. One of the difficulties this type of adventure has and a common problem of many books is the creation of an almost invincible evil in the first 85% of the novel only to be defeated in an almost simplistic method. I still recommend these books if the genre of spiritual mystery is of interest to you and hope my critique hasn't put you off.

Nobody has done a better job of bringing the "lost" supernatural dimension of primitive folk magic and religion into the modern mystery/thriller world than Michael Gruber. He has a deep and sympathetic understanding of what we secular Westerners might regard as "alternative belief systems," and he manages to seamlessly juxtapose witchcraft, Santeria, etc., with utterly plausible crime and violence plotlines. Additionally, few authors in the thriller genre can match Gruber's ability to flesh out characters -- even bit players -- in three dimensions. By now it's well-known that Gruber is the ghostwriter responsible for the first 13 crime novels "authored" by his cousin, Robert K. Tanenbaum, which are among the very best of the genre. I will read anything he writes.

Michael Gruber's "Night of the Jaguar" is a creative crime thriller laced with overtones of pagan spirituality.

The story begins in the remote Puxto Preserve in the heart of the jungles of Colombia, the habitat of the Runiya Indians. Father Tim Perrin a missionary to the Runiya had been shot and with his dying breath revealed to tribal jampiri or animal spirit doctor Moie, that the Puxto was in great danger. Consuela Holdings, a Miami based consortium of Cuban businessmen were intending to pillage the preserve of its priceless and protected forests of mahogany trees, effectively destroying the homeland of the Runiya.

Moie, imbued with the spirit of the Jaguar, an important deity to the Runiya, sets off to Miami in his canoe to stop Consuela. Oh yes, Moie had the power to transform into a deadly 450 lb. jaguar and then revert back to his human form.

Moie amazingly made his way to Miami and come to be under the protection of the Forest Planet Alliance Foundation, an environmental group with two members pivotal to the story. Jennifer Simpson was a 19 year old redhaired beauty who was both epileptic and illiterate and had bounced around foster homes. Professor Nigel Cooksey a British entomologist who had spent time in the jungles of Colombia and had once been a commando. Both played major roles in the exploits of Moie.

Moie had tracked down 2 of the 4 members of Consuela and turning into the jaguar maimed and killed both men, partially consuming them. One man happened to have been named "Yaiyo" Calderon. Very conveniently the illegimate son of Calderon the dark complected retired Miami based Cuban American detective Jimmy Paz and his family had been having nightmares about jaguars.

When Paz, now working at his mothers Cuban restaurant as a chef, learned of the murders, he was intrigued. He eventually was coaxed by his former colleagues to investigate as he was an expert in unusual and inexplicable crimes. Paz whose mom embraced the beliefs of Santeria, eschewed them but gradually realized that they helped explain the mysterious occurrences courtesy of Moie plaguing his consciousness and the Consuela consortium.

Gruber's plot borders on the bizarre as Paz gets more deeply involved in his investigation. A drug lord from Colombia named Hurtado and his minions get summoned by the remaining Consuela businessmen to provide protection against the unfathomable jaguar attacks. As the story progresses to its conclusion the motivation for all that happens eventually and thankfully gets explained.

This book was so engaging and interesting. The characters are well built and the storyline is tremendously entertaining!!!! I highly recommend this book.

I have read all of Michael Gruber's books now and he paints a picture with words like an artist paints a picture with oils. I have a library of several thousand books and I can honestly say Mr Gruber is my favorite author. He is intellectual and his work is well researched and intriguing. I wish he had 10 more books I could buy and read and love. If you want a quick read and are into Harlequin Romance novels don't buy this. If you want to really delve into another world, enjoy mystery and great literature, then buy this book.