Customer Reviews

Snake Dreams (A Charlie Moon Mystery)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I have been reading and enjoying James Doss for years...but not this time. Oh, brother - definitely NOT this time. The sniggering, the author's self-aware asides, the cutesy-poo comments (the British call it "twee") absolutely overwhelmed a story that is pretty weak on its own, anyway. There was very little of Daisy's spirituality and virtually none of the unique Ute background and color that have so hallmarked Doss' prior Charlie Moon stories. Very, very disappointing.

I love Charlie Moon and Aunt Daisy when they are solving a mystery in their inimitable ways, but this was no mystery it was a tongue in cheek book of wise cracks. Please Mr. Doss get a bit more serious.

I was hoping upon hope that James Doss would return to his old writing style, which was so interesting and intelligent. Instead he continues with the inane style from his last novel. I was a big fan, but will sit in a bookstore and review his next novel before buying it, and if the silliness and trite style continues, alas, I've purchased my last James Doss novel. This book is silly, and takes way too long to develop.

If you must read it, wait until you can get if for free at the local library.

James Doss and his Charlie Moon series makes me wish there really was a Charlie Moon left in this world. The charactors seem so real funny, mischevious and warm. I think I fell in love with Charlie Moon a long time ago.

Jo

This Charlie Moon mystery was a disappointment. The author's off-stage presence was terribly distracting. Please, Mr. Doss, pick a POV and tell your story. Example of this POV disturbance, selected at random from dozens of examples: "As if the loss of a valuable supply of hay was not enough to ruin Moon's day, there was also that business about the cougar and the calf, and far worse than than-- But we get ahead of ourselves." Don't do that.

On the one hand, it's gratifying to see that even Doss enthusiasts can't stand Snake Dreams. It is indeed the worst novel in the series, hitting a bottom I wouldn't have expected even Doss to aspire to.

So, what's wrong with it?

Well, for starters, it contains three and possibly four murders. Two of them are not merely unsolved, but no one even cares about them. Of the other two, it looks very likely that they were committed by characters we are supposed to like, and the authorities (which is to say, Charlie Moon and Scott Parris) choose not to pursue the killers because they are 'buds' and the murderees probably deserved it. Vigilantism has been an undercurrent of these books for some time (a woman that Charlie and Scott watched attempt to kill her husband turns up as a half-page love interest here). But here we have two people killed by a central character "because they deserved it." And to twist the stupidity even further, the second one "deserved it" because he "might" have killed the first one who, as I said, we are led to believe was actually killed by one of the above-mentioned "buds." WhatTFever.

In a word, there is no mystery here. We get a false lead at the beginning, when Doss grins and snickers and points while someone slashes the throats to two victims, one of whom becomes a cute blood-drenched ghost pestering Daisy Perika (the other is never even identified). Truly, nobody in the book cares who killed Mrs. Yazzie, not even Daisy, who finds her pestering nothing but an unfortunate annoyance. Nobody cares, although the murdered woman's daughter is a central character. Nobody really cares about the subsequent murder of Yazzie's husband, Herman Wetzel, who is accused, mostly in arch innuendo, of child sexual abuse. And the final murder, effectively an execution, doesn't bother anybody much either. I can't even remember the guy's name.

Lest you think that the vigilantism here is a way to force justice to do its job, chew on this: The final vigilante murder is the direct outcome of Daisy coming into Granite Creek determined to steal the savings of the first victim. Money that by all rights belongs to the now orphaned Nancy Yazzie. No, there's no irony there, no hidden motives of good. She's just planning to steal it. That's our "heroine." And there is no reason that both murderered "criminals" couldn't have been handled by the standard justice system that Scott Parris, as a county sheriff, might actually feel somewhat obliged to enforce. But why bother, when local folks can just take care of it for you. Local folks who think nothing of abusing children (Daisy tormenting Sarah Frank), stealing from orphans (that would be Daisy again), and doing a pre-emptive strike on a possible burglar killer (that would be... oops, possible spoiler... although "spoiling" a Doss novel is a bit of a paradox). In Doss' moral universe, vigilantism's just fine, because he says so. The moral fabric of Dossland has always been pretty threadbare, but in Snake Dreams it's thinner than cobwebs.

But the book. Oddly enough, there's no mystery to carry the story. But Doss is too busy being cute to worry about that. More than a quarter of the book is devoted to a cartoon birthday party that simply heaps stupid idea on stupid idea until there's no room for more. We are expected to believe that Charlie Moon has become a performance-quality banjo player in the year since Three Sisters, in spite of absolutely no interest in music before this sudden achievement. Not only that, but four of the cowboys at his ranch suddenly disclose similar skills with other instruments and the five of them manage, in this busy year, to become a bluegrass band with a repertory of more than three dozen tunes and discover a local girl who just happens to be gorgeous, a good singer, and familiar with the three dozen songs.

Another huge chunk of the text is a cartoon account of an angry teenager chasing her errant lover from Durango to Waco, Texas, and back with a shotgun, a pistol, and a stolen truck. We are assured repeatedly that the boyfriend is a major tough guy, but during the chase he behaves like a mama's boy who would wet himself if barked at by a Peke. This is supposed to be funny -- by whom besides Doss, time will tell.

Finally, there is the mind-numbingly stupid career (in the runaway auto sense) of Charlie Moon's love life. In the twenty pages at the center of the birthday party, Charlie is with the current love of his life, Lila Mae McTeague, an FBI agent, after a three-hour drive in which both of them are thinking about (but not talking about) getting married. Charlie, of course, refers to this professional woman as Sweet Thing, which can be confusing since Scott Parris has an off-stage girlfriend who is literally never identified except as "Sweet Thing." It could be worse; Nancy Yazzie's biker boyfriend refers to her, to her face, as "Peachie Pie." Be thankful for small favors. But back to the party, where love fizzles like a piddled-on fajita.

So, in twenty minutes: The singer in the band makes eyes at Charlie, and Lila gets ticked. Sarah Frank (she's 16,it's her birthday party, and she has a crush on Charlie), blushes at Charlie and Lila gets ticked. Legendary local rich lady Bea Spencer dances with Charlie, and Lila gets ticked. Nancy Yazzie finds out that her stepfather has been murdered (he is pretty much the only person not at the party), and she bursts into tears, which causes Charlie to hug her... Lila gets ticked. Charlie arranges for Nancy to stay at the hotel, on the same floor as Lila (not Charlie, who is not staying at the hotel at all), and Lila decides it's because he's planning to sneak in and put it to Nancy, who is underage. How like him! Learning about her friend Nancy's tragedy, Sarah Frank bundles Nancy into her brand-new truck, a birthday gift that she has never driven and does not have a license to drive, and takes off for Charlie's ranch. Realizing that the two girls have run off under rather dangerous circumstances, Charlie pursues them. And, of course, Lila gets ticked. So, she walks out on the man she was madly in love with about twenty minutes ago, refuses to listen to any explanation he (as well as a few friends) can offer, and storms out of his life. Permanently, it turns out. More dramatic than his loss of Jessie James (I'm not making that up), the FBI or Secret Service or something agent he was about to marry a couple books back (only one? How time flies), who suddenly decided to go find herself (after Charlie named a lake after her and hugged her on his porch for four hours (No, no, I am not... whatever)) and went back to Washington without leaving a forwarding a address and immediately fell in love with some guy and ... forgive me if that's a bit garbled, but I guess you can imagine why. Oops, lost sentence. Let's go back to the main phrase: More dramatic that his loss of Jessie James, but even less credible. So it's a fragment. Flag me not helpful.

I suppose it's possible that the long-range plan (if such things can even be discussed in Dossland) is to clear the stage for Charlie to finally fall for Sarah when she comes of age. That would be a nice bit of plagiarism from Tony Hillerman's universe, so not totally unlikely. And the upside is that it should only take two more years, meaning two more books (one of which has already been written without exploring this possibility, for what that's worth), after which it will be extremely difficult to sustain the series. Not that that will stop Doss.

I wouldn't dream of missing a novel by James D. Doss. Charlie Moon and his Aunt Daisy, along with Scott Parris are just a perfect blend. You don't have to read them in order, but you should if at all possible.

this guy is so wonderful to read. a great story teller. not one has disapointed.
those that didn't get it or feel it have to let go of pre concieved or formula
series story telling...and respectfully i say to you wait awhile and read it again..
there is something special or moving in every one of his books...years ago my sis
made this suggestion and she was right...im going to read them ALL over again...
eventualy.

I own all the Doss books. In fact, I got the last four in hard cover because I didn't want to wait for the paperbacks. Unfortunately, every negative comment already posted about this book is on the money. I have read the series twice, except for this new entry; I almost stopped reading it several times. Mr. Doss and his editors seem to have taken the idea for a short story and enlarged it with unnecessary asides, childish sound effects, and double-spaced subchapters to arrive at a book that spans 308 painful pages. The epilogue in this book certainly sounds as though the author has pulled the plug on on a most enjoyable series. If not, I will certainly snippety snip the next one from my Christmas wish list (guess what the only entry on the last one was) and carefully inspect it at a book store before investing my money and time.

Gee, am I in the wrong book??? I almost didn't get past the second chapter. Has Charlie 'vegetated' on the ranch? Has Scott succumbed to the 'crankies'? . Aunt Daisy is my favorite character , and at least she was more herself than Charlie and Scott, but still not up to par.
This change in Doss's style just is not working; it's insipid and insults our intelligence as Charlie's fans. I can usually put myself right in the story, sort of a 'silent partner', but this just turned me off ; kept me on the verge of paying the library for the book so I could burn it.
Think I'll just re-read all my Tony Hillerman books until Mr.Doss comes to his senses.