Indian Killer

Indian Killer

3.7 of 5 stars 3.70  ·  rating details  ·  3,775 ratings  ·  331 reviews
Native American Sherman Alexie's new novel is a departure in tone from his lyrical and funny earlier work, which include The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven and Reservation Blues. The main character is an Indian serial killer who incites racial tension by murdering whites in retribution for his people's history. The killer leaves clear signs of his motives by sca...more
432 pages
Published 1998 (first published 1996)
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman AlexieThe Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman AlexieLove Medicine by Louise ErdrichReservation Blues by Sherman AlexieCeremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Native American Fiction
10th out of 405 books — 247 voters
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman AlexieCeremony by Leslie Marmon SilkoCuster Died for Your Sins by Vine DeloriaReservation Blues by Sherman AlexieIndian Killer by Sherman Alexie
Native American Writers
5th out of 47 books — 18 voters


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Community Reviews

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Rachel
Jun 23, 2007 Rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: people who have dealt with white guilt
This was my introduction to Sherman Alexie, and I still think it is his best work that I've read to date. The title itself made me question my thought processes, as I immediately envisioned a book replaying and displaying the historical themes of colonization and genocide against Native Americans in a modernized plot. This is, of course, what Alexie is doing, but the story centers around a couple of local murders attributed to an "Indian Killer" -- an Indian who kills, not someone who kills Indi...more
John
Maybe it is partly because this was the first novel I read in six months, but I basically devoured this book and really enjoyed it all the way through. Great pace, great characters, good suspense, funny in parts. I really appreciated that Alexie made almost everyone at least a little sympathetic - even the characters that I really expected to dislike. Even the terrible people usually had a least one moment of humanity, so the reader could glimpse something good in them.
Also, I love books that zi...more
MacK
Sherman Alexie's Indian Killer eschews the straight-up spectacle of a racially motivated serial killer mystery (with its potential for red herrings and dramatic climaxes) and instead savors the subtlety of innumerable racially conflicted characters who seem equally capable of murder--and leaves the whodunnit unanswered.

I have an undeniable fondness for Alexie (I'm already planning how to teach his The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian at the beginning of the next school year). One of t...more
Book Concierge
3.5***

Alexie crafts a literary thriller that explores issues of racism, isolation, and mental illness.

A serial murderer known as “The Indian Killer” is terrorizing Seattle, hunting, killing and scalping white men. John Smith was taken from his Native American teen-age mother at birth and given to a white couple, who adopted him and raised him in a loving family. He has grown into a strong and handsome man, who lives quietly on the fringe of society. As the story progresses it becomes clear that...more
Valerie Valentine
Sherman Alexie
Indian Killer

Such great writing is refreshing after the blah I have been reading/editing…

I found it gripping from the start. The protagonist, being adopted and tribeless, is an amalgam of every lovable Indian archetype, mashup of Tonto and Nick in American Gods (strong silent) Hawk from Twin Peaks and beyond… The use of chief as casual to the point of they don’t know it’s rude/derogatory slang is infuriating, the reader beings to understand the rage brewing inside the man, from hig...more
Charra Rede
Sherman Alexie is one of my favourite Aboriginal writers: funny, brilliant, and topical. And not only that, he can write a murder mystery.

This novel explores the psychology of fear that is generated when someone (presumably an Indian) begins killing and scalping white men in Seattle. A Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian, Alexie teaches with this tale. The disturbing beauty of this book lies in Alexie’s ability to create plausible viewpoints from several disparate characters: a mouthy racist DJ; a mode...more
Kate Barber
When John is wrenched from his mother and flown to his adoptive parents he is given the name John Smith. A name which is renowned within western culture for its generalization; it could be any white American man anywhere. Sherman Alexie purposefully chooses a name which could refer to anyone white because it allows a lot more freedom with John as a character. It highlights how little he fits into the white world to which he has been forcible adopted into. Even though he has the name of any other...more
Irene
Aug 20, 2009 Irene rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: People who like psychological thrillers
Shelves: fiction
I picked up Indian Killer at the library because I'm on a Sherman Alexie kick and this was the only book of his available. Being a psychological thriller about murder, it's not exactly the type of book I normally read. I was a bit apprehensive as I started reading, afraid I'd get nightmares or something, but the book quickly drew me in.

Indian Killer explores themes of identity and isolation across whites and Native Americans. There's the Indian man, adopted by white parents, who longs to be a "r...more
Robin
I almost never read murder mysteries, but this one is written by Sherman Alexie,and I loved The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. There's very little endearing humor in this one, but I will give it a chance.

This book is harsh and disturbing, but readable. John, the main character, is revealed to be mentally unstable. We are to assume that this is the result of being separated from his specific Native heritage -- he knows he was born to an Indian mother, but the adoption records are se...more
ElphabaNewlin
Set in the Pacific Northwest, INDIAN KILLER is the intertwining stories of multiple characters caught in an upwind of racial anger. A serial killer is targeting white men and scalping them, raising a fear and a fury within the white community and confusion among Native Americans. Racial tension mounts and mounts, as a talk radio host fans the flames with his show and deems the murderer the 'Indian Killer'. In the middle is John Smith, an Indian man adopted at birth by a white family, who is tryi...more
Sarah Greene
This book really made me think. I'm not exactly sure what to say, as there's too much, really. I really believe that it was so much more than a struggle between white and Native American, the innate contention that derives from the very beginning contact. Beyond that statement, there is mention of the nonsense that white culture spews, that they can associate with Native Americans and apologize for taking the land and killing them; white people then start believing they can love Native Americans...more
Kirsten
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Silentreader
Just a short reason for my rating,

Alexie does a fantastic job of capturing the trials and tribulations of a broken and decaying people. Heartwrenchingly real, and shockingly gruesome, though not untasteful, Alexie will have you on the edge of your seat.

Some parts, such as when several of the book's "Brown" characters attempt to "make themselves white" by crude methods such as sandpapering the skin, are both sad and jolting. All of these events occur when the character is as young as six. I guara...more
Christy
His other books weren't available at the library, so I went for this one. It was an interesting comment on racial tensions, but seemed overstated, was extremely grotesque and had one of the worst, most unsatisfying endings I've ever read. The characters were more like charicatures and, even though it was listed as a mystery, the mystery is never solved. I'll have to read one of his other books to redeem my opinion of him.
Stevedutch
If there existed a prize for the most tedious book ever written then this book would almost certainly be shortlisted. It is quite simply pedestrian nonsense populated with the type of one-dimensional, stereotypical characters one normally associates with the worst daytime TV soap operas! It should be almost painfully obvious to those who have reasonably functioning senses that racism is endemic to all but the most enlightened societies: so that when we seek 'entertainment' from a novel we don't...more
Julia
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Stephen Dorneman
This is an angry book, and a book about anger. A serial killer in Seattle, who is scalping white victims and leaving behind owl feathers, Indian symbols of death, exacerbates the underlying tensions between whites and Indians that have long festered in the city. Particularly affected are borderline individuals -- whites who want to be Indians, an Indian half-breed raised by an abuse white father, and a mental disturbed Indian adopted as an infant by an upper-class white couple. As events unfold,...more
tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE
This starts off w/ a melodramatic bang worthy of Michael Crichton &/or Dean Koontz.. It's a thriller.. but it's a thriller w/ something that Crichton & Koontz will never have: a subtext of sensitizing the reader to American 'Indians'.. & there's no simple resolution. There're plenty of characters, the most sympathetic for me being probably the activist Marie Polatkin, the one who articulates the most accurately (IMO). The complex issue of relations between 'Whites' & "Indians' in...more
Mark Stevens
There’s an admirable premise at work in “Indian Killer,” in which Sherman Alexie uses the plot of a serial killer on the loose to run through just about every attitude and thought about racism in the United States—in particular racism aimed at American Indians.

Written in 1996, “Indian Killer” is hardly a taut murder mystery and it’s a bit loosely jointed, at least for my tastes, to be considered a literary classic.

The story’s central character is John Smith, an Indian who was adopted at birth b...more
Flourish
This book was very difficult to read. Oh, the actual words weren't difficult: if anything, I found the writing style simplistic and not always in harmony with the contents. But it was difficult to read because barely any of the characters were - well, I don't want to say "sympathetic"; there were plenty of sympathetic characters. But most of the sympathetic characters were so deeply flawed that it was hard to take.

And you know... when it comes to racial issues, when it comes to the question of I...more
James Badger
"Indian Killer" is unlike any other book I have ever read. I'm actually still trying to unravel just what happened in the book and how I feel about it. It's certainly an emotional journey as none of the characters are who you think they are. Everything is in flux. Everyone is a potential killer. By the end of the book, I had no solid answers, and yet I'm perfectly fine with that.I was warned about this book, and I can't help but wonder how much I would have enjoyed it if I didn't know the experi...more
Sherri
This is the only Sherman book I didn't love. Mystery is a hard genre to write and there were so many loose ends and odd pieces that didn't seem to fit. I did like the interesting idea of an indian who didn't know what tribe(s) he belonged to and how it affected his identity as a person. I also liked the Tony Hillerman-esque writer, he provided me with some snarky giggles. The premise was a good one, a serial killer who scalps his victims and leaves a feather as calling card, how racial tensions...more
Libby
I didn't like that there was so much violence and swearing in this book. Although, I will have to say that Sherman Alexie knows how to write and tell a good story. The killings were really bloody and some parts of the book were really violent. I couldn't connect to alot of the characters in the book. Except, maybe Marie and how nice she was to the homless indaians and that she took her time to talk to them and give them sandwiches to eat. Also, I connected with Daniel and Olivia and the love for...more
Ingrid
this book was really amazing. I don't recommend it to just anyone because of language/content, but I was enthralled by the voice. It was so direct & intimidating, of course, that might be the effect of using sentence fragments.
I also have to say that I was instantly grabbed into the book because I didn't know what was going on. Now, after having finished the book and had some time to think about it, I still have no idea what happened. Crazy. And the book really delves into the issues of nati...more
Renee
I didn't love this book, and it was thought provoking. I finished it a couple months ago and I still think about it, so I rated higher than I may have right after reading it.

I have read some of Alexie's short stories and this was my first go at one of his novels. I thought I missed something in the telling since one of the driving elements of the story seemed unresolved, and in the time since I read it I have decided I respect that choice. Had it all been neatly wrapped and handed to me I wouldn...more
Jamie
The rhetoric from mainstream critics mainly criticize the lack of depth in the character's persona because the tendency for them to be portrayed as being 'one dimensional'. However I prove the dynamic and purposeful intensions by the author to prove literary complexity within the theme by bring out the intent of literary activism within the 'simplistic' confines of the individual characters.

Stereotypes are found within the discourse of the lofty content through simplistic syntax of language by...more
Ariel Uppstrom
I have been a big fan of Sherman Alexie for years and have wanted to finish reading all his published works. This one was really different from his usual writing. This book was really dark and I think showed his underlying thoughts about the oppression of Indians and the privilege of the Whites.

The book followed several people and their connection to the Indian community. One Indian, John Smith, who was adopted by White parents, decides to take Indian justice into his own hands and punish rando...more
Michelle
I'm finally getting around to this review! I finished the book a week ago, started a review, felt like I needed to sit with it a little longer, then lost the original draft...

There is a lot I have to say about this book, I so want to talk to someone else who has read it and hear their thoughts. Its one of those books that sits with you long after its over. I find myself re-thinking a lot of what I thought when I read it. I wouldn't be surprised if I read it again a few years from now, just see...more
Marci
In the first half of the book, I was giving it 4 or 5 stars. I enjoyed the writing style, the introduction of the characters. The characters were interesting and unique. Then the second half of the book was like a big pot of hatred, anger, violence and racism and the author just kept stiring the pot and stiring the pot every now and then throwing in some spices to make you suspect a different character as the killer. I dont know if he was trying to build suspense, but I just felt frustration and...more
Shannon
Ok, I recognize that this is a very well-written and compelling book. I think it would actually be a good book to teach if you were doing a class that dealt with the complicated issues of race in modern day United States. Adam and I had a lot of really interesting conversations as the result of this book--he read it outloud to me. All that being said, I didn't like reading it. It was just too dark and raw for me. If Adam hadn't been reading it out loud to me, I don't think I would have finished...more
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Indian Killer

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Sherman J. Alexie, Jr., was born in October 1966. A Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, he grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA, about 50 miles northwest of Spokane, WA. Alexie has published 18 books to date.
Alexie is an award-winning and prolific author and occasional comedian. Much of his writing draws on his experiences as a modern Native American. Sherman's best known works in...more
More about Sherman Alexie...
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Flight Reservation Blues The Toughest Indian in the World

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“...it's like this white-Indian thing has gotten out of control. And the thing with the blacks and the Mexicans. Everybody blaming everybody...I don't know what happened. I can't explain it all. Just look around at the world. Look at this country. Things just aren't like they used to be.'

'Son, things have never been like what you think they used to be.”
4 people liked it
“Listen" said Mather. "I understand what you're going through, I really do. An Indian woman in college. I understand. I'm a Marxist."
Really," said Marie. "I'm a Libra.”
3 people liked it
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