Customer Reviews

Spirit Sickness (An Emmett Parker and Anna Turnipseed Mystery)(Library Edition)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

*Spirit Sickness* is the only book I would recommend to someone who said to me, "I've read all the Leaphorn/Chee books; now what? Isn't there anything else like them?" In this genre that combines mystery fiction with American Indian themes, Thomas Perry, with his superior writing skills and (sadly, now retired) Seneca heroine, Jane Whitefield, and Kirk Mitchell, with his rural western settings and duo of American Indian cops, are the top contenders for Hillerman's crown when the master decides to retire. (And yes, I know about Doss, the Thurlos, Stablenow, etc. Different league.)

*Spirit Sickness* is a PG-13 Hillerman novel with a touch of Ellroy/Harris nastiness spicing things up. The crimes are more graphic than anything Hillerman would subject us to, and there is a bit of graphic sex as well. The villain is a violent psychopath--a type that only appears, and briefly, in one of the Chee/Leaphorn books. But the action is fast and furious, the conflict and attraction between the two cops exciting and engaging, and overall this is a solid, satisfying read.

For a complete discussion of the "Indian mystery" genre, check my web site.

After her last case, FBI Special Agent Anna Turnipseed is placed on convalescent leave. The Indian is unsure whether she can return to her field job. The legendary Bureau of Indians Affair Investigator Emmett Parker worked with Anna on that investigation that has left her so shook up. Emmett wants Anna to join him on future cases although he hates her department, writing them off as bunglers.

In Window Rock, Arizona located on the Navaho Reservation, a police officer and his wife are found cooked to death inside a police car. Parker is assigned the case and pushes Anna into working with him on the task force. Although afraid, Anna accepts the assignment and accompanies Emmett to the sight of the double homicide. In the background, the Gila Monster, a human using the form of a Navaho myth, plans to eradicate more cops before going after his final targets.

Fans of Tony Hillerman and the Thurlos will want to read SPIRIT SICKNESS, a thriller that captures the cultural identity of the Navaho Nation. Kirk Mitchell is a talented storyteller who creates characters that seem real though not particularly likable. The subplots bring the main story line together with no lose threads, remarkable as that seems, because this compelling tale is rich with sidebars.

Harriet Klausner

Murder, mayhem, and secrets in and around the Dine (Navajo) Reservation. A prior review compares this unfavorably with Tony Hillerman's books. I disagree. I tried to read a Tony Hillerman book once & just could not get into it. On the other hand, "Spirit Sickness" is my first Kirk Mitchell book, but it won't be my last! He has interesting characters in a credible, action-packed thriller.

This second Turnipseed & Parker action-mystery of western Indian country law enforcement is an intensifying knock-down battle, and furthers the deepening relationship between the two as well. It has a fair number of scary moments and damage to our heroes (no wonder Parker fears rookie Turnipseed will quit). I doubt the FBI would really sanction rookie Turnipseed taking charge of the entire manhunt operation, Indian Policman Parker's trial-by-fire way of curing her. Although the settings are grand and desert, the author pays little attention to them or the building of any atmosphere except dread, squalor, and the brutality of human life. There's also a lot more heart-pounding physicality and culture conflict than in Hillerman's stories of Chee & Leaphorn, and the lore of the Navaho and the desert seem perfunctory and disjointed. I couldn't figure out how Trunipseed derived the final target of the monstrous but well-trained serial killer, in order to set up her trap. The villain has been thoroughly touched by a species of sadistic Patricia-Cornwellian dementia. Besides a background in policing, author Mitchell seems to know alot about psychology, for a central personality dynamic here is a long-running pre-lovers quarrel between the heroes. (It's something admirable that despite the opportunities in these stories no one has yet been bedded; instead of prurient interest the author relies on old fashioned unrequited sexual tension to drive the main characters.) The story felt like an L.A. noir story transplanted to a more empty locale, with its gangs, thirst, and endless driving around.

Mitchell has taken the emerging Indian Reservation Mystery genre and transported it beyond the cliches. This satisfying novel is mature on several levels: plot development, character development, sophistication and depravity of the villians' human motives (as well as those of some good guys, too).

This is a good page-turner with fresh twists on the "torn between two worlds" modern Indian/cop conflict. The believably sketched heroes are delightfully flawed and vulnerable--though their stamina occasionally stretches credulity.

The settings of the multi-layered but comprehensible plot move us on and off the rez with gritty, believable reality. Mitchell creates credible characters without any of the tired Indian-as-misunderstood-and-victimized-mystic trappings that reduces some other novelists' efforts in the genre.

Mitchell even manages to transcend the usual, cliche conflicts between tribal police departments and federal law enforcement agencies while maintaining a realistic sense of bureaucratic functioning. And get this, not every bureaucrat is wooden and incompetent!

The inventive plot evolves with taut exposition and the believability that's born of both familiarity and homework. You'll be surprised at some developments, and smugly proud of your powers of deduction in predicting others. But you'll never feel cheated.

All in all, this is a tale as fresh, stimulating, and welcome as a spring rain over a desert in the four corners.

Read all of them is all I can say. If you like Hillerman, you will love this book and the others in the series.

Mitchell is a great teller of stories. His mysteries have a harder edge than Hillerman and he does a great job with the traditions and landscape. I read Hillerman because I want to be transported to the wide open reservation. I read Mitchell for the same reasons, but his stories tend to be a little more intense and there are times when that is very welcome. Mitchell's characters of Parker and Turnipseed are every bit as memorable as Hillerman's Chee and Leaphorn. If you like Hillerman, you will also like Mitchell ... a lot.

I don't know why everyone has to compare him to Hillerman. Both are very good but very different. The only similarities are the location but it stops there. Mitchell's move a lot faster and spend a lot less time describing the scenery. They are a lot more thrilling while Hillerman's are slower pace and more relaxing. It all depends on what you are in the mood for. Both writers are great and if you like this area of the country you will enjoy both. As to the other guys criticism about Parker and Turnipseed crawling under the mobile home---give us a break--this is FICTION! It fits in with the story quite well!

Are we really to believe that a seasoned BIA agent and an FBI agent would actually crawl underneath a mobile with a flashlight on their bellies when they have expectations that someone with a gun may be hiding there and "might shoot them in the face" ? Please and the author is a law enforcement officer? What tactical procedure book did he get this scenario from? A canine unit would have been called in and a dog sent in, no matter if the canine unit was an hour away as the author indicates to cover his lame story line. Real law enforcement would have secured the site and waited for the dogs as there was no imminent threat. This is my first Mitchell and it will most likely be my last. When I read the preceding ludicrous scenario in the first quarter of the book I found it so silly I nearly threw the book aside and decided to spend my time with something better written. But I was curious just how silly this whole thing would get and my assumption that it would was proven correct.

If you're a fan of Indian Country whodunits, Kirk Mitchell is tops. I could go on, but I'd just be repeating myself. This is a terrific read.