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Queen of the Night: A Novel of Suspense
 
 
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Queen of the Night: A Novel of Suspense [Hardcover]

J. A. Jance (Author)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)

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Book Description

July 27, 2010

The New York Times bestselling author brings back the Walker family in a multilayered thriller in which murders past and present connect the lives of three families

Every summer, in an event that is commemorated throughout the Tohono O'odham Nation, the Queen of the Night flower blooms in the Arizona desert. But one couple's intended celebration is shattered by gunfire, the sole witness to the bloodshed a little girl who has lost the only family she's ever known.

To her rescue come Dr. Lani Walker, who sees the trauma of her own childhood reflected in her young patient, and Dan Pardee, an Iraq war veteran and member of an unorthodox border patrol unit called the Shadow Wolves. Joined by Pima County homicide investigator Brian Fellows, they must keep the child safe while tracking down a ruthless killer.

In a second case, retired homicide detective Brandon Walker is investigating the long unsolved murder of an Arizona State University coed. Now, after nearly half a century of silence, the one person who can shed light on that terrible incident is willing to talk. Meanwhile, Walker's wife, Diana Ladd, is reliving memories of a man whose death continues to haunt her.

As these crimes threaten to tear apart three separate families, the stories and traditions of the Tohono O'odham people remain just beneath the surface of the desert, providing illumination to events of both self-sacrifice and unspeakable evil.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Dedicated to the late Tony Hillerman, Jance's brilliant fourth suspense novel featuring former homicide detective Brandon Walker and his wife, novelist Diana Ladd (after Day of the Dead), spans some 50 years, from a murder in 1959 in San Diego to a rash of killings in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Tucson, Ariz., in 2009. Interwoven with these crimes are legends of the Tohono O'odham Indians (aka the Desert People) and the lives of such contemporary Native people as Lani Walker, Brandon and Diana's adopted daughter. Jance's masterful handling of a complex cast of characters makes it easy for the reader to appreciate the intricate web of relationships that bind them across generations. The title refers to the night-blooming Cereus, a desert plant that blooms once a year and is of great symbolic importance to the Tohono. Jance, perhaps best known for her J.P. Beaumont series (Fire and Ice, etc.), has crafted a mystery that Hillerman would be proud of and that her fans will love. 7-city author tour.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Murders old and new disturb the peace of Tohono O'odham Nation residents and their Arizona neighbors in this fourth entry in Jance's Walker Family series. Californian Jonathan Southard is so seething with resentment that he kills his wife and children and goes after his remarried mother in Tucson. Reverberations from Southard's crimes touch the former sheriff Brandon Walker, his wife, Diana, and their adopted Native American daughter, Lani, exacerbating old wounds at a time when Walker is worried about Diana's mental health. Perhaps as a way of reacquainting readers with this series—there have been lapses of three to four years between installments—Jance inserts great chunks of backstory, as Diana hallucinates dead men who once terrorized her. Tohono O'odham tales and culture, which permeate the book (reminiscent of Tony Hillerman), and the flower of the title, the beautiful and aromatic cereus, which blooms in the desert just one night each year, add appeal, but the awkward backstory gimmick and the lack of much narrative pulse make this a somewhat tepid entry from a best-selling author. --Michele Leber

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 368 pages
  • Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (July 27, 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0061239240
  • ISBN-13: 978-0061239243
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #552,850 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

37 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (9)
2 star:
 (6)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (37 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Less a thriller than interesting stories about interesting characters, July 29, 2010
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Although crimes are committed and investigations are conducted in Queen of the Night by J.A. Jance, the book is primarily about its characters -- what happened and is happening to them, the ways they are connected or become connected, how events in one charcter's life parallel those in another's.

The story takes place in Arizona, where Brian Fellows, happy in his roles as father, husband, and cop, follows the trail of a killer while his idol Brandon Walker pursues a new lead in a cold case at the request of a dying friend. Brandon's wife, Diana, seeing ghosts and worrying over her deteriorating health, anticipates her own approaching death while at the beginning her life, Angelina Estalante survives a cold-blooded slaughter only to be labeled a Ghost Girl by relatives who refuse to care for the four-year-old. Dr. Lani Walker, one of the Desert People and Brandon and Diana's adopted daughter, knows what it is like to be rejected by family, but her reluctance to make personal commitments influences her empathy for Angelina. Half-Apache border patrolman Dan Pardee, who rescues Angelina and was orphaned at a young age, knows what it is like to be an outsider, particularly in the land of the Tohono O'odham, the Desert People and cannot cast off his feeling of responsibility for the child.

The murders in the book take second place to the lives of these and other characters. The cold case subplot, in fact, is anti-climactic and not terribly engaging. What is engaging are the sections of the book that focus on the legends and traditions of the Tohono O'odam (Desert People), including that of the Queen of the Night, a cereus that blooms only one night a year.

Although Jance's technique of switching focus among characters can be disconcerting, even at times confusing, their stories are interesting enough to make it worth the effort to keep up with and untangle all of the threads. In the end, it is possible to understand that one of Jance's themes is probably how interconnected we all are. And, if the reader tires of the human element, there is always Bozo, a scene-stealing dog.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Readers will be unable to stop turning pages whether electronically or physically, September 9, 2010
This review is from: Queen of the Night: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)
"Queen of the Night" is the latest mystery/suspense thriller by Southwestern/Western sleuth-writer extraordinaire, J. A. Jance. Set in Arizona, with scenes of fear unfolding within the Tohono O'odham Nation's reservation boundaries, "Queen of the Night" stars familiar Dr. Lani Walker, a Tohono O'odham physician and a new character, Dan Pardee, an Apache Iraqi war veteran who has become a Shadow Wolf, an unorthodox Native American Border Patrol group. Along with his canine companion and guard, Bozo, Dan intervenes to rescue a lost child from a terrible multiple murder scene set in the beautiful Arizona desert on the night of the blooming of the Queen of the Night, the night-blooming cereus. The pace never slackens, as more players from different races and official agencies become involved in the investigation of the multiple murders and the wrenching decision regarding the placement of the four-year-old child witness to the murders. Tribal customs, traditions, and history are woven into the story line skillfully, with many inner conflicts surfacing to confuse the hunt for the murderer. The human touch is all, in Jance's narratives. Readers will be unable to stop turning pages whether electronically or physically, as "Queen of the Night" approaches its final resolution, engaging all race, all issues, all senses, all attention. There is a message of interconnectedness, acceptance and human compassion in the mystery novels of J. A. Jance that transcend the genre, taking it to realms beyond pure entertainment.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Fourth Walker Family Story Light On Intrigue, November 25, 2010
By 
Gerald M. Bull "Jerry Bull" (Fairview, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Queen of the Night: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)
"Queen" is a departure from Jance's more famous J.P Beaumont and Joanna Brady mysteries (and thankfully not another in the more "modern" Ali Reynolds set) -- it is the fourth entry in the Walker family series. Set in Arizona, shades of Tony Hillerman, to whom this book is dedicated, the light mystery is as much an excuse to illuminate the culture of the Tohono O'odham Nation (native Indians) as it is to serve up a mild police procedural. That the author reveals the perp about halfway through, and the capture of same turns out to be a fairly mundane affair, means this story is more about the characters, of which there are plenty, and their relationships and tribulations, than the mystery per se.

We've read the prior three novels in this series, and at this point will probably pass on any future additions, preferring to stick with the more suspenseful plots of Jance's two main "stars". So while "Queen of the Night" (a once-per-year flowering cactus) is pleasant enough, it may well disappoint those expecting a crisper, more entertaining mystery thriller.
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