Idaho Territory, June 1887. A small-town judge takes his young daughter fishing, and she catches a man. Another body surfaces, then another. The fi...
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Aug 23, 2010
Pete
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I liked the quieter stretches of the book even more than the action sections, because all the "Deep Creek" characters feel so real. The recreation of late-19th-century life is very well done. The story links and loops, bringing in the lives of the Chinese victims, the villains and the investigators, plus showing how one of the worst crimes in US history had roots in the shameful Nez Perce War, and also the many exploitations (resource and human) that won the West but lost any hope of
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Mar 23, 2010
Mark
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Completely uncool confession: I feel I am a better person for having read this book.
I also enjoyed the author website: http://www.dana-hand.com/
I also enjoyed the author website: http://www.dana-hand.com/
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Feb 27, 2010
Lin
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I definitely want to be Grace Sundown when I grow up. Verdict: A keeper. When's the movie?
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Jan 06, 2011
David
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Dana Hand’s debut novel Deep Creek opens with an unforgettable scene. In 1887, a small-town judge and his daughter go fishing in the Snake River in Idaho Territory. The girl throws in a line and catches a man. Soon, more bodies are bobbing in the flood-swollen river and the judge, Joe Vincent, has a mass-murder mystery on his hands.
The corpses—shot, hacked, disemboweled, dismembered—are Chinese miners who have traveled deep into Hells Canyon where they met their fate at the titula More...
The corpses—shot, hacked, disemboweled, dismembered—are Chinese miners who have traveled deep into Hells Canyon where they met their fate at the titula More...
Oct 12, 2010
Deep Creek is a historical novel that recounts the story of an 1887 massacre of more than 30 Chinese gold miners in a remote area of Idaho along the Snake River. The story begins when a small town judge and former sheriff, Joe Vincent, takes his ten year old daughter, Nell, fishing and Nell ends up snagging a body…and then another one, and another one. The Chinese miners working for the Sam Yup Company have been brutally murdered and their bodies mutilated. Vincent ends up working with a represe
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Mar 02, 2010
Barbara
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This novel is based on a true crime story of the Old West. In 1887 35-40 Chinese miners were massacred at Deep Creek in Hell's Canyon, Oregon along the Snake River. Chinese were generally thought of as something less than human at the time, and Indians hardly more worthy of consideration. Despite this attitude, Joe Vincent, a former judge of Lewiston in Idaho Territory was hired by the Sam Yup company representative, Lee Loi, to investigate the murder of its employees. Vincent in turn hired
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(3 people liked it)
Jan 12, 2010
J
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Aug 22, 2010
Bookmarks Magazine
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A fascinating account that's equally effective as mystery, Western history and character study (Las Vegas Review-Journal), this gripping, complex novel captivated the critics with its moving story, engaging characters, and stark, evocative writing. Building a novel around actual events can be tricky, but these first-time novelists carry it off with aplomb, seamlessly interweaving fact and fiction to fill in the historical gaps. Howarth and Matthews paint a vivid, visceral portrait of the Old Wes
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Feb 01, 2010
Ken
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Deep Creek is a crime drama set in 1877 Idaho. A small-town lawman and his daughter hook a mutilated body while fishing the Snake River. And so begins the parallel stories the mass murder of 30 Chinese gold miners and the subsequent investigation, which is bankrolled by the victims’ San Francisco employer and conducted by the lawman, an ambitious young Company investigator and a female half-Indian mountain guide.
As they track the killers across the rugged Pacific Northwest of the la More...
As they track the killers across the rugged Pacific Northwest of the la More...
Nov 06, 2011
Roberta
rated it:
I had trouble rating this one. In the end I enjoyed it more than I did for most of the reading of it. It was an interesting story, based on facts (a big plus for me) with characters whose story I wanted to learn. It concerns the massacre of 30+ Chinese miners in the Idaho Territory in the late 1880's and of Joe Vincent's determination to find out what happened and bring the perpetrators to justice. The problem I had with the book is that I had trouble following much of the story. It moved b
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Jan 06, 2011
Kelly
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Feb 25, 2010
Ellen
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Crime, justice, family, long-lost love: this book has all the elements I like. "Deep Creek" is a fast-moving thriller about a terrible genocidal crime in 1887 Idaho. But it ranks with any historical novel I have read. The villains, male and female, are genuinely scary. The trio of investigators, like their families and friends, are ordinary, likable, fallible people forced into heroism. There's a touch of the supernatural, too, just enough for eeriness, and in the end we witness justic
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Jun 05, 2010
Caitlin
rated it: 
I read this because I don't usually read books in the Western genre and this looked like it would be doable - historical fiction based on an actual massacre of Chinese miners and one lawman's obsessive struggle to see their killers brought to justice. Great, right? Not so much.
This was co-written by two authors who normally publish non-fiction history and it shows. The book jumps all over the place in tone and style making it very difficult to keep track of the relatively small nu More...
This was co-written by two authors who normally publish non-fiction history and it shows. The book jumps all over the place in tone and style making it very difficult to keep track of the relatively small nu More...
May 13, 2010
Andybaines
rated it:
I don't usually like pre-20th-century historical fiction but I saw the rave review in the Washington Post and decided to try this. I finished it a week ago and am still thinking about it. It's like I lived it. And the fact that it's a dramatization of a real incident makes the novel all the more compelling, IMHO. The writing is very clear (not self-consciously fancy), the present-day parallels are all too strong, and I find I miss the core characters, Joe, Henry and Lee Loi especially. Dana Hand
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Jul 23, 2011
Paula
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based on a real incident, the vicious sadistic massacre of a group of chinese gold miners in the idaho territory in the late 1800's, deep creek follows the investigation as it might have played out, using many of the real people as characters. though interesting enough, the way it was told was, to me, rather disjointed and broken; almost a staccoto way of writing. I would have enjoyed it more if it had flowed more easily, but that's my own personal taste. the historical details on how we trea
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Apr 25, 2010
Randy
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You have to pay attention all the way through, and be willing to sink into a convincingly recreated West at the very end of frontier days, and also (frankly) be fairly smart to follow a challenging plot and characters that reveal their stories and secrets bit by bit. A jigsaw puzzle of a book, like all good investigations. Highly recommended, but not a conventional or traditional story. Writing is very fine throughout, concise yet freighted with meaning and feeling. I also learned a lot about pl
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Jan 01, 2012
Jan C
rated it:
A while back I either heard about this book or the non-fiction book, Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon by R. Gregory Nokes, which I will probably now pick up. At any rate, they are both about a massacre of 30-40 Chinese miners in the late 1880s.
There are compelling characters - Judge Joe Vincent, Grace Sundown, Nell. I guess you would call Libby and Vollmer compelling also but not in a very complimentary way.
This was the first I'd ever heard of "ether p More...
There are compelling characters - Judge Joe Vincent, Grace Sundown, Nell. I guess you would call Libby and Vollmer compelling also but not in a very complimentary way.
This was the first I'd ever heard of "ether p More...
Feb 21, 2010
Rebecca
rated it:
A fictionalized account of a very real, but very forgotten, massacre in the 19th century American West, Hand (really the pen name of writers Will Howarth and Anne Matthews) brings to life not only the hero, GAR veteran, ex-county sheriff and all-around good guy Judge J.K. Vincent, but the nearly 40 Chinese miners so cruelly murdered because of greed. It's rare, even in this day and age, to have a Western with a deeply Eastern--so to speak--heart.
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Feb 12, 2011
Marie
rated it:
This mystery set in the post civil war Pacific Northwest had a few technical issues which troubled me throughout the novel. the plot itself is fascinating and based on the actual slaughter of over 30 Chinese gold miners. when they stick to known facts, the authors do very well, but when they stray into fiction, their lack of experience shows. Their exposition of character is fine, but their characters never really come to life. They have the annoying tendency of giving their characters far t
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Feb 03, 2011
Bea
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I enjoyed this one after I got used to the author's weird style of writing. Partial sentences. Not sure who he is talking about. Or when. A good story, a little difficult to follow at first. It is historical fiction about the Northeastern Oregon and Southern Idaho, based on a true event in which more than 30 Chinese miners were murdered. I think it would be interesting to people who live in that area.
Jul 23, 2011
Tave
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A really good story, and I like the way you do not find out everything all at once but it dawns on you, along with the investigators. I strongly dislike books that condescend or spoonfeed, and this one respects reader intelligence. The trio of investigators: very appealing. Grace Sundown is especially well done. Highly recommended for anyone who thinks the past is still present in American life.
Aug 31, 2010
Jerry
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Historically very accurate (unfortunately.) Characters all believable, action and plot cleanly constructed and exciting. The sad part is that I can imagine this crime happening in our time too, given the current national mood: American attitudes toward immigrants and strangers have not evolved much since 1887, and this intelligent novel throws light on why this might be.
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Apr 04, 2010
Cassie
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I liked this book. I probably would have really liked it had I not been so busy with other things. This book has a complicated story line full of political intrigue, historical facts and lots of characters. It's the kind of book where you have to keep at it and not stop or else you find yourself confused. I found myself confused simply because I couldn't devote the time to uninterrupted reading. This book takes place in the late 1800s in the Hell's Canyon area of Idaho and Oregon. I took a
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Apr 24, 2010
Daven
rated it:
I refused to give up on this one, and I grit my teeth to the end. Tough reading, as the plot and the characters seem to keep doubling-back on themselves. I admit to being somewhat of a fragmented reader, and am often reading 3 or 4 books at a time. But even given these self-induced complications, I had a heck of a time retaining who was who, with different names often used for characters depending on who was referring to them, and a string of location changes.
I admire the depth an More...
I admire the depth an More...
Jan 05, 2011
Harriett
rated it:
A really fine novel of conscience; loved Grace Sundown and her fierce independence, and also Joe's struggle to do right. This is not a conventional "Western" but contemporary American fiction at its best, just when I'd given up hope of something decent to read (and discuss--my book group loved it--and we are highly educated and very picky--)
Mar 31, 2010
Evon
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based on the fact that the authors are historical writers, this book scares me. corruption and greed have always been a driving factor - especially in government. the realization of reality is so dulled by rhe stimulation we receive from movies/media today that this seems to be nothing but fiction. talk about prejudice and injustice!!
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Dec 12, 2010
Margie
rated it:
First-rate. Saw it on the Washington Post "Best Fiction of 2010" list and am glad I did. Excellent novel: historical tale about the price of American justice for all (plus some hungry ghosts, great Snake River mountain scenery, characters you care about, and a touching love story). Will make it a book club choice.
Mar 22, 2010
A DNF for me. Perhaps because I have an ARC and not the real thing, the character development is poor and slow. Also, I cannot figure out which character is being referred to half the time. The story line.. not interesting me as much as I had hoped. I don't find it particularily suspenseful. I was looking for something like 31 Bond Street when I picked this up and it is nothing like it.
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Jan 03, 2012
Juliet
rated it:
Excellent tribute to Chinese (and all) immigrants to America, their suffering and their dreams, and the decent people who helped them. This would be a terrific movie, IMHO. Story and characters emotionally gripping, and the Snake River setting is beautiful and unusual.
Jun 25, 2011
Sudia
rated it:
Great historical texture--really throws you into the past, hard--and I love the characters, Joe, Lee and Grace especially. (Libertarian readers and also those who like straight-ahead storytelling should skip this one; it will raise your blood pressure for sure.)
