false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175514529m/522262.jpg 522262 4 <I>Spirit Sickness</I> marks the return of Bureau of Indian Affairs investigator Emmett Quanah Parker, a Comanche, and FBI special agent Anna Turnipseed, a Modoc, who first pooled their investigative talents in <I>Cry Dance</I>. Anna is recovering from a vicious attack and dreads returning to the field; Emmett, however, will do whatever he can to lure her back to active duty. When the bodies of tribal patrolman Bert Knoki and his wife are found in a fire-gutted police cruiser in a remote wash on the Navajo reservation, Emmett seizes the opportunity to request Anna's help. As the investigation unfolds, the agents find themselves questioning the dead cop's integrity, delving into a gritty world of poverty and prostitution (just what was Knoki doing visiting a Utah cult in the company of a hooker?), and confronting the eerie legacy of Navajo myth.<p> That myth centers around the figure of the Gila Monster, said to cure sickness with his trembling paw and to be charged with redeeming the sins of the first Indians by destroying them. Emmett and Anna, who have long sublimated their traditional upbringing to a more rational modernism, must struggle with a madman who has woven his insanity into the myth of the Gila Monster, creating his own reality--and his own very real victims.<p> The novel is workmanlike, rather than inspired. Although press releases have touted Kirk Mitchell as a threat to Tony Hillerman's supremacy in rendering the lives, secrets, and crimes of the Native American Southwest, Mitchell has yet to approach Hillerman's delicacy of touch and effortless integration of native culture into crime narratives. Mitchell's references to Navajo myth seem ponderous, distant, and irrelevant to the unfolding action. The same complaint might be made of the onerous distraction that is the subplot of romantic attraction between Parker and Turnipseed. If the reader is utterly unable to detect any hint of sexual tension between the two, one wonders why they spend so much energy--and so many pages--fretting about it. <I>--Kelly Flynn</I> 510146 2000 Spirit Sickness total:29|5:5|4:9|3:12|2:3|1:0| 29 103 42 4 0 0 false false Mon Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Jan 10 14:34:24 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 10 14:38:31 -0800 2009 I not only enjoyed the Mystery, but I learned the Native story, too.
I can't get enough of Kirk Mitchell's books!]]> 0 0 false false Sat Sep 05 09:39:05 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 05:57:06 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 09:39:05 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Thu Aug 02 08:06:24 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 02 08:07:33 -0700 2007 Obsidian Butterfly. With that book, I went into it knowing she's a vampire hunter, necromancer, etc. But Spirit Sickness was reading like a normal mystery with mere mystic elements until it shifted from the third peson to first person,...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 13:17:41 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 25 13:18:45 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Tue Nov 10 11:41:35 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 11:41:35 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Nov 17 04:57:20 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 07:38:33 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 07:38:44 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Sep 19 17:48:59 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 19 17:49:29 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Aug 26 15:42:40 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 26 15:42:40 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Aug 25 06:25:26 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 06:25:26 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Aug 24 23:12:22 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 23:12:22 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Aug 23 07:03:35 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 07:03:35 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Aug 16 08:27:45 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 08:28:03 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Mon Aug 10 18:10:24 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 10 18:10:24 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sun Aug 09 18:05:56 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 18:05:56 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue May 26 19:33:57 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 19:33:57 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Apr 16 11:06:27 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 16 11:06:27 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Nov 13 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Apr 14 07:45:08 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 07:48:49 -0700 2009 2 0 false false Wed Apr 08 18:37:44 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 08 18:37:44 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Tue Mar 31 17:31:01 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 31 17:31:01 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 12 10:44:34 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 17 11:47:17 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=522262