Customer Reviews

Play with Fire (Kate Shugak Mystery)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm a big fan of the Kate Shugak series and thought Hunter's Moon was one of the best page turners in a long while. It inspired me to go back to some of her earlier novels. The good news is that Stabenow gets better with time. The bad news is that some of the early stuff is pretty weak. The basic problem with this book is that there isn't much mystery. A man goes missing for ten months and no one reports it? When found, his body is naked and he's died from mosquito bites. He's the son of the local fundamentalist minister. 300 pages later we find out who killed him.

The basic problem with this book is that for every page that moves the plot forward, Stabenow includes ten essentially irrelevant pages. The ramblings range from entertaining (does musak justify homicide?) to tedious (an encyclopedia excerpt on mushrooms) to touching (Kate's memories of going to college). There's much discussion on religion and education. These are two topics of interest to me so I didn't mind that they were mostly off topic. Other readers may be justifiably less tolerant.

Bottom-line: Many musings and not much mystery. Stabenow can do(and has done)better.

In this book, Kate Shugak finds a body while picking mushrooms. It turns out to be the body of a person who has been missing for quite awhile, but whose father never reported him missing.
Kate is always arrogant with her beliefs, but this book really goes too far. I fully agree with Dana Stabenow's views on religious fundamental extremists. However, she goes too far when she starts trashing all religion and people who believe in them.
I really liked Kate's remembrances of her first year of college and of the professor who turned her on to literature. But none of this makes up for all her preaching against religion, people from other states, people who listen to different music, etc.
The mystery itself is unsatisfying, too. I agree with the other reviewer who lamented the lack of suspects, red herrings, etc.

Dana Stabenow writes good mysteries so this book was a surprising disappointment. There is no mystery, barely even an attempt to write one. There is only one suspect, a group of people the author doesn't like, and that's who did it. No red herrings, no other suspects. What kind of a mystery is that? If you do read it, be prepared to be beaten over the head with the author's prejudices on nearly every page. Skip this book and read some of her actual mysteries. I've read four others so far and liked them all.

Ordinarily I very much enjoy the Kate Shugak series for its beautiful and detailed descriptions of Alaska's geography and culture. Usually these books are populated with quirky people, all of whom have interesting secrets and almost all of whom the reader cheers on. The mysteries themselves may not always be deep, but generally they are intriguing and somehow linked to Alaska's traditions.

But Play With Fire was a major disappointment. The bashing of Christianity was peurile, offensive, and stereotypical with not an ounce of nuance to moderate a viewpoint that seems to come straight from today's headlines. In these books, Shugak is always depicted as a thoughtful and intelligent woman who thinks for herself and appreciates many viewpoints. Not so in this book. After she has her conversation with the aging university professor about evangelical Christianity, she thinks to herself that she is "so glad she had this conversation". But there is no nothing in that conversation that we haven't seen untutored TV pundits scream at each other! After reading that chapter I said to myself "That's it? Christians are haters, think only of themselves, and want to kill you if you don't agree with them?"

Interesting writing about mushrooms, and Jack is a dreamboat, but this is one Shugak book that is headed for the recycling bin.

I have enjoyed several of the Kate Shugak mysteries. This isn't one of them. This seemed less of a mystery novel and more of an attempt to promote her ideas on religion in general and strict biblical faiths in particular. It isn't that I don't support Dana Stabenow's opinions on fanatical religions. However, her views are as distorted as are those of whom she describes. As a previous reviewer stated, you might consider skipping this particular novel in the series.

It is unfortunate that Ms. Stabenow has written a polemic instead of a novel. Her assault on religion, particularly Christianity, overtakes any plot or character development. This is truly a shame since some of her novels are actually quite good. But not this one.

I started reading Dana Stabenow in a short story. Thought she was interesing, read two more novels then came to Play with Fire. Man I almost couldn't stomach this drivel. I had three other books in her series but didn't even touch them. They went straight back to the library. We as Americans are allowed to have our own views of religion but this really goes to far. But then again I could do just exactly what I did and not read them. So if you are reading this and even remotely believe in God (how could you not if you have ever been to Alaska) then don't read this book or it will really piss you off. All she came across is narrow minded, simple minded and hateful.

If you like Stabenow and you like Kate Shugak, don't let the reviews scare you off! Yes -- Stabenow takes on creationism and fanatical christians. Do you really think that an Alaska Native, like Kate, would find such beliefs appealing?

The story is interesting and the glimpses into what makes Kate tick will please devoted Stabenow fans.

Dana Stabenow takes you right into the Alaskan Bush and makes you feel the mosquitos and gaze in awe at the scenery. She brings you into the lives of her characters so that you experience life along with them.

Another highly readable page turner by an incomparable mystery writer.

Play with Fire is a really good mystery with abundant background information about some of the attitudes in rural
Alaska that shaped Kate Shugak. It explains some of the attitude Kate has in later books on many issues. I have
read it many times over the years since it was written, and always find it engrossing and worth reading.