Customer Reviews

Tularosa

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found the plot of Tularosa to be a little contrived, but the authentic feel of New Mexico has obviously been present in McGarrity's series from the beginning.

Kerney and Sara Brannon are easy to like and have a well-paced relationship in the book. There was a lot of gratuitous violence south of the border; but probably this is based in what the author has really found in his career in law enforcement in the southwest.

McGarrity struggles a little with his writing style - he paints a scenic picture well, but was just starting out in character development and dialogue.

Worth the read to start the Kerney series; the author continues to develop and satisfy the reader.

The first page contained a fantastic description of a sky. Whenever he describes clouds and sky he's great, and when he describes scenery he's very good - better than James Lee Burke but James Lee Burke does better characters. I can understand why a lover of the Southwest would love the book. But then there are passages such as " 'I've got to improvise' he whispered to himself" (That's a villain planning to kill the hero). Unlike the Hillermans I've read he does admit that some native Americans have alcohol problems and shows respect without over-idealisation. Basically it lacked enough originality to go on my great list, although I read it and will buy more of McGarrity. There are too many tough embittered ex-cops already in book form. The good guys were too good and the bad guys too bad. Terry Yazzi came alive best because he was ambivalent. I like villains with a touch of humor I can half-way root for. I think a previous reviewer said it well;Good hamburger but not great steak.

As soon as I saw the title of this book, I had to buy it. I grew up in Alamogordo, only a few miles down the road from Tularosa, NM. It was fun to read a mystery set in that area with familiar landmarks and history playing a big part in the plot. The author has accurately recreated the New Mexican landscape for his readers while keeping you engrossed in his work. If you haven't ever visited New Mexico, this should make you want to! I will definitely read other books by this author.

I really wanted to like "Tularosa." I had accidentally happened upon it while searching Amazon for books about my hometown area in the Tularosa Basin of southern New Mexico.

Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my hopes. While I did enjoy the setting and scenic descriptions that brought back many memories, I found the plot to be too obviously contrived and much of the dialogue to be stiff and unnatural.

The story had the potential to be quite entertaining but too many times things just conveniently happened out of sheer coincidence, conveniently putting the hero (Kevin Kerney, retired cop and all-around good guy) in the right place at the right time. Heroes almost always end up in the right place at the right time, but most of them get there in ways that are more believable than in this book.

Realizing this is McGarrity's first effort in what has become a fairly popular continuing series, it may be unfair to be overly critical. I plan to give him another try with one of his later novels, but I can't recommend "Tularosa."

I picked this up on a whim in a need to satisfy my curiosity on a south west mystery genre usually dominated by Tony Hillerman or J.A. Jance, and I was pleasantly surprised.

What you won't find here is a lot of Native American spirituality or beliefs, and gone are the all to traditional Navajo lore so custom to these books. But you will find a very well written novel that is very believable and exciting to read.

Main character Kevin Kerney (formerly a cop) has been spending the last few years in the Santa Fe area as a ranch/handy man and is approached by his former partner (and former friend) to locate his missing son. It seems Kerney's godson (a soldier out of White Sands Missile Range) is missing, and Kerney make the trip down south to locate the boy.

Enter Sara Brannon, she's a captain in the military and is in charge of the military cases on the base. Reluctant in helping Kerney at first, they soon both uncover a mystery that goes beyond just the awol soldier.

About 1/2 way through the book, a new story begins. It looks as if it is a totally separate and isolated incident from the one that Kerney and Brannon are working on, and we have the introduction of some new characters. Their adventures take them just south of the border of Texas and New Mexico into a sleazy border town in Mexico itself, run by a local drug lord. The plot reveals missing antiques worth a whole lot of money to someone. This story in itself is exciting and even becomes more so as soon, the two stories become inter-twined with each other.

With everyone after the missing goods and how this ties into some of the cases back at White Sands, a much larger conspiracy is uncovered and Kerney and Sara must do everything they can just to stay alive.

The climax was good and left the reader satisfied. There was a small twist at the end, that unlike most other endings, not everything turns out the way it should have. The players here do not return to the norm.

McGarrity writes well. His descriptions of landscapes and towns are accurate as I myself have been to these areas. The overall pace of the book is good, never to slow, and yet actions are not hurried to get to the end.

In McGarrity's first novel ex-Santa Fe cop Kevin Kerney, derailed by a shot-up knee, takes a break from retirement when Navajo cop Terry Yazzi, his former partner and the man responsible for his injury, asks him to find his son.

The younger Yazzi, Sammy, is listed as AWOL from the high-security White Sands Missile Range. But Sammy is conscientious and was content with his work ? not a likely candidate for running off.

Kerney's investigation leads him first to army investigator Sara Brannon, a sharp-eyed woman who doesn't miss a trick. After a rocky start, the two join forces on a trek which takes them into the regions' past ? from the recent days of struggle between ranchers like Kerney's family and the military who dispossessed them to more distant days of armies and Indians.

McGarrity's characters emerge as real people and the desert landscape is as beguiling as it is harsh while the tangled conspiracy unravels with nail biting, page turning excitement. A fine debut.

I found the book very entertaining. Wonderful descritions of New Mexico, indeed the Land of Enchantment. I am looking forward to reading more of his books and enjoying his main characters.

Tularosa (April 1996) The first in the Kevin Kerney series.
Tularosa -- the place of reddish willows in Spanish -- holds the key to Kevin Kerney's past and his future. Ex-chief of detectives in the Santa Fe Police department, retired by a shot-up leg, Kerney is drawn back into action when Navajo Indian Terry Yazzi, his ex-partner and the man responsible for his injuries, asks him to locate his son, reported missing from the high-security WhiteSands Missile Range in southern New Mexico.
To find Sammy Yazzi, Kerney must track clues that lead deep into the histories of the region -- Native American, Hispanic,
and Anglo -- and surprisingly, into his own family's ranching past. And he must deal with the complicated feelings
triggered by the army's investigator, Captain Sara Brannon, a fiery young officer as formidable as she is attractive.
As Sammy Yazzi's trail spirals into a web of murder, treason, and the smuggling of priceless artefacts, Kerney and Sara
travel an accelerating arc across the New Mexico scene -- from the boutique-ridden plaza of Santa Fe, through the sharp-edged beauty of the high desert, to bordertown gambling dens -- to a final confrontation in which, both wounded and at risk, they must fight for their lives and for each other against opponent who hold all the odds.

There are several appealing aspects to McGarrity's Kevin Kerney series. One is the spectacular background of Sante Fe and New Mexico the author has chosen as the locale for his continuing series. You CAN pick up any of the Kevin Kerney books and without too much trouble be swept up in the strengths and weaknesses of Chief Kerney, but it is a bit easier to start with the first in the series (Tularosa) to not feel too lost in the character interaction. As you learn through reading the series, the Kerney family has been part of this area for many generations. Tularosa sets some of the main character's into play and gives the particulars to what makes Kearney tick- Chief Kerney's being severly wounded. It introduces Air Force Captain Sara Brannon and Kerney. Which becomes an important relationship in subsequent books in the series.
Most of Michael McGarrity's books can run from scenes of brutal violence to serene appreciation of the New Mexico high desert. With enough excitement running the length of the book to the fast paced ending.
I've read through the entire Kevin Kerney series by Michael McGarrity. I would put Tularosa in the 4 * range. Alot of the book was used in development of the characters and such. This isn't a bad thing, in fact I think this has made the series better for it.

John Row

As a former resident of this area of New Mexico, it was a real pleasure reading this and all of the other books by the author. He describes the countryside and the characters to a T. Be sure to read all of his books. We always get the newest ones as soon as they are available.

I like to read a chapter of a book each night before bed. It's got to be tough for an author when readers pick up your first book because they've finished Tony Hillerman's last and need something to fill the void. So I kept that in mind as I started the first McGarrity novel.

I was pleasantly surprised for the first 200 pages. I was enjoying the beautifully painted word images of the locale, found depth and diversity in the characters - though there were so many introduced I felt like I needed a scorecard at times - and the storyline was intricate enough that it kept me looking forward to the next chapter...so much so that some nights I cheated and kept reading!

Hey, I thought...I'm gonna like this author.

But then we hit Chapter 9, and the next 100 pages deteriorated into such gratuitous violence that I finally started skimming just to get past all the bone cracking and blood spurting and eye gouging. The lowpoint was when our hero, Kerny, in need of a quick confession to save his girl (did I mention she's been kidnapped and in the process of being raped?) strips the bad guy naked, hog ties him face down on a railroad track, and then starts to drag him by a rope attached to his car so that his genitals are splintered and raw. Sorry if I spoiled a "surprise" for anybody, but just know that by this point the bad guy has already been beaten unconscious and by all standards ought to be DEAD, as should be our two heroes who have been similarly beaten unconscious and mangled. It's like those awful movies where combatants keep beating each other senseless and just as you think "well good, THAT's finally over and we can move this plot forward" they rise to fight again an hour later.

To me, it felt like an editor or publisher said "You need to add some ACTION" because frankly, it's quite out of character with the rest of the book. It's the verbal version of the obligatory car chase in movies.

Some of the reviews here say this was a good first attempt and he gets better, so I'll probably give the second book a try. But unfortunately, they don't say "better" in what sense. If, for example, it turns out that "better" means McGarrity has even MORE gratuitous violence then that will be the end of this series for me. Stay tuned!