The Shape Shifter (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: damned rug, hogan stories, burned man, Tommy Vang, Joe Leaphorn, Mel Bork (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. A picture cut from a glossy magazine, Luxury Living, draws retired Navajo tribal policeman Lt. Joe Leaphorn into a hunt for a soulless killer in bestseller Hillerman's enthralling 18th Leaphorn/Chee whodunit (after 2004's Skeleton Man). The picture's sender, Mel Bork, another cop retiree, wonders if the distinctive Navajo rug shown in the picture is the same one Leaphorn described to him long ago, a rug supposedly destroyed in a fire the two officers investigated that took the life of a person identified as among the FBI's most wanted. Bork's subsequent disappearance and murder herald the dangers awaiting Leaphorn from a most formidable enemy. As Leaphorn searches for evidence to confirm his suspicions, he enlists the aid of Sgt. Jim Chee and his bride, Bernadette Manuelito, just back from their honeymoon. Only Hillerman could so masterfully connect such disparate elements as an ancient cursed weaving, two stolen buckets of piñon sap and the Vietnam War. The conclusion is sure to startle longtime fans of this acclaimed mystery series. (Nov.)
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From The Washington Post

In Tony Hillerman's The Shape Shifter, a lot is riding on a little mysterious carpet. Not any old welcome mat, but a precious Navajo tale-teller rug, full of portents, interwoven with bits of bark and feathers. Supposed to have been burned in a fire years before, the priceless artifact turns up in the pages of an interiors magazine, shown on the wall of a rich man named Jason Delos. After it's spotted by Joe Leaphorn, a retired Navajo policeman, and an old colleague of his (whose car almost immediately plunges down a canyon), the story ravels through an elaborate investigation of theft and murder.

The gentle style of this laconic author and his even more laconic Leaphorn are immensely appealing, as are his insights into Navajo behavior, such as a reluctance to interrupt when anyone is speaking. Hillerman is unbeatable at the flat planes of realistic conversation. One of the most memorable characters is Tommy Vang, a curiously ambiguous, fine-boned man, whom Delos had adopted as a child in Cambodia. He's subtly rendered as something between a sex-slave and servant, and Hillerman uses Vang's gradual recognition of his own situation to propel the story to an exciting conclusion.

For readers bent on the whodunit aspect, the title offers a whopping clue, but The Shape Shifter has more to offer than mystery.

-- Philippa Stockley, author of the novels "A Factory of Cunning" and "The Edge of Pleasure"
Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (November 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060563451
• ISBN-13: 978-0060563455
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (126 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #302,915 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

149 of 176 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst yet, I'm afraid, November 25, 2006

By	Mick McAllister - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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Tony Hillerman's Navajo series includes a few of the best books in the genre: Skinwalkers, A Thief of Time, and Coyote Waits, for example. But for some years now, the books have been poorly written and what is more tiresome, miserably edited. HarperCollins obviously doesn't see any reason to clean up a Hillerman manuscript. They are ignore contradictions, spelling and grammar errors, mistakes with names, and inconsistencies. And the fulsome reviews that sell the books at Amazon justify HC's contempt for readers.

This book is terrible. It is full of tired diction. The pat phrase overused in this one is "Lt. Leaphorn, retired": start keeping count when you get bored. It's not as irritating as "the legendary Lieutenant" (which turns up occasionally), but it gets old fast.

The "experimenting" with chronology is simply bad plotting. Joe can't be "retired a few months" if Jim and Bernie are married, except in an alternate universe. And Louisa is apparently not living with him any more, but he's forgotten she ever did, so it's Ok. In fact, maybe we are supposed to think Joe is getting senile, because at one point he ponders that something was "why he had decided to go home"; the problem? He's in a motel room for the night, obviously not "going home."

But the real clincher is the crime itself. As the story develops, we are supposed to believe that an international mega-criminal worth millions would set up an elaborate robbery of a trading post in the middle of the Navajo rez. At the end, Leaphorn mentions the genius of the guy because "he always left no witnesses." Unfortunately, he says this to one of the three witnesses to the trading post crime; in fact, one of three accomplices he spents weeks with and then betrayed to the police. Fortunately, the witness is too polite to contradict him... those Navajos, always polite.

At one point, Hillerman seems to realize that the trading post robbery seems a bit, well, out of character for his mega-criminal. So he quickly does some self-justifying math. He points out that the post took in about $100 a day and they often didn't bank the money for weeks. Oh, that's different. The worth millions arch criminal stakes the place out for months so he can score 2 or 3 grand, for which he commits multiple murders! Not only ruthless and arch, but petty.

Anyone who calls this one of Hillerman's best is insulting him. I have pages of reviews of his books and others like it at my site; this book is embarrassing. With the millions Hillerman has made in the Chee/Leaphorn franchise, he could hire an editor of his own to keep these books up to the standard Hillerman himself set and few have equalled. Instead, he is cranking out feeble imitations of his own work.

44 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Loved the rug, but the story is disappointing, December 4, 2006

By	Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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Several of Tony Hillerman's latest efforts have been disappointing. He seemed to have gotten away from what his readers loved. Joe Leaphorn was playing second fiddle to several other characters; there was less of an emphasis on Navajo rituals, mythology and religion, and in one rendition (THE SINISTER PIG) he'd gone so far as to leave the reservation altogether.

Apparently Tony has been listening to the criticism, because in THE SHAPE SHIFTER Joe Leaphorn is back at center stage, the mythology is back, and Joe spends most of the book driving around the reservation, giving us a good look around. Some of the great minor characters are back as well, the best of which is Grandma Peshlakai, who was greatly irritated with Joe as a young man when he couldn't find the thief who'd stolen her buckets of pinyon sap.

Shape shifter is just another name for skinwalker and there's another one on the prowl in Hillerman's latest mystery. The newly retired Leaphorn is trying to find out why "Woven Sorrow," a Navajo rug supposedly worth in the neighborhood of two hundred thousand dollars which supposedly burned in a gallery fire, seems to be hanging on a wall in LUXURY LIVING, a magazine he's been shown. Hillerman's description of the rug and the story behind its weaving gives him an opportunity to wax poetic about Navajo mythology. We're also treated to a mini-sermon on Navajo religion. The Navajo elders had condemned the rug because it violated the Navajo tradition: The Dineh taught its people to live in peace and harmony, and the rug seemed to be harping on past transgressions, including Bosque Redondo and The Long Walk Home.

The plot deals with Leaphorn's efforts to find out whether a serial killer who was supposedly burned up in the gallery fire is still at large. The man who owned the rug in Luxury Living, Jason Delos, soon becomes a figure of interest. Tommy Vang, Jason Delos's Hmong houseboy, gives Hillerman a chance to compare Hmong and Navajo mythology.

Unfortunately the rest of THE SHAPE SHIFTER doesn't live up to the mythology and religious aspects of the book. There's practically no suspense. Hillerman tips his hand almost immediately. Anyone who reads a lot of mysteries will figure this one out twenty pages in. There's also a lot of repetition as Leaphorn spends most of his time interviewing possible witnesses and drinking coffee. He drinks so much coffee it's hard to understand how he ever gets any sleep.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Even the Great Ones Sometimes Falter, June 2, 2007

By	John R. Lindermuth (Coal Township PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hillerman--as usual--had a good premise. But, he dropped the ball this time.

Maybe Tony is tired. If that's the case, take a rest. Loyal fans will understand and there's a superb repertoire of previous books for new readers to choose from or admirers to read again.

Leaphorn's relationship with Louisa hasn't progressed beyond sharing a house. Jim Chee and Bernie Manuelito are married now, a situation fans have long anticipated and approve. Unfortunately, they have little to do in this book but serve as a sounding board for Leaphorn. Retirement, a condition he hasn't adjusted to, doesn't keep Leaphorn from jumping into a cold case from the past.

The case itself is unbelievable and the denouement just isn't up to the old Hillerman.

Because I love the Leaphorn/Chee series I couldn't not finish the book, though it was a struggle at times. What made it worse was the evident lack of editing by the publisher.

People are critical of certain "printers" that pass themselves off as publishers. In defense, I would note they stress their books are NOT edited. It seems HarperCollins and many of the other big name publishers are fast becoming "printers" as well, as can be seen in the number of spelling, grammar and other errors to be found in this book. I must say this is not the worst example I've seen out of New York. Authors, don't you complain? Don't let your publishers tell you spell check is a substitute for a hands-on editor.

Meanwhile, I'm going back and re-read one of the vintage Hillerman's.