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Hell Is Empty (Walt Longmire #7)

4.23 of 5 stars 4.23 · rating details · 1,288 ratings · 219 reviews

Wyoming's favorite sheriff braves a frozen inferno as he races to capture an escaped murderer.

Well-read and world-weary, Sheriff Walt Longmire has been maintaing order in Wyoming's Absaroka County for more than thirty years, but in this riveting seventh outing, he is pushed to his limits. Raynaud Shade, an adopted Crow Indian, has just confessed to murdering a boy ten ye...more

Hardcover, 312 pages

Published June 2nd 2011 by Viking Adult (first published May 14th 2011)

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Jun 15, 2011 LJ rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary_post_1945, male_author, mystery, police_procedural, wyoming

First Sentence: “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?”

What started as a routine hand-off of prisoners quickly became anything but routine. Sociopath and child-killer Raynaud Shade escapes along with two other prisoners and two FBI hostages into the rugged mountains of Wyoming. Also headed that way is a major spring blizzard. Sheriff Walt Longmire, with a Colt .45, a Sharpe’s rifle, a copy of “Dante’s Inferno”, and Indian mysticism heads into the mountains, and the s...more First Sentence: “Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?”

What started as a routine hand-off of prisoners quickly became anything but routine. Sociopath and child-killer Raynaud Shade escapes along with two other prisoners and two FBI hostages into the rugged mountains of Wyoming. Also headed that way is a major spring blizzard. Sheriff Walt Longmire, with a Colt .45, a Sharpe’s rifle, a copy of “Dante’s Inferno”, and Indian mysticism heads into the mountains, and the storm, to save the hostages and bring the killers to justice.

Normally, a book of this caliber prompts a long, detailed review. “Hell is Empty,” however, is so well written and memorable, it’s a book to be read rather than talked about.

The trademarks of Johnson’s writing are very much in evidence. From the first sentence, you are drawn into the characters and the environment. Not only are the white-hat characters interesting and people you’d want on your side, and Walt is a true white-hat character. He is intelligent, imperfectly human and has a drive for justice that is reminiscent of Robert Parker’s Spenser at his best.

Readers new to the series need have no fear of feeling they’ve been dropped in without reference as Johnson quickly and succinctly provides their frame and fleshes them out. But it takes a real skill to create villains who are interesting and multi-dimensional as well. One of Johnson’s most intriguing characters is Virgil White Buffalo. At over 7 feet tall, and the grandfather of the murdered boy, Virgil is a criminal, vessel of Indian mythology and philosopher. Referring to “Dante’s Inferno”, Virgil observes that “All the horrors in this book are the horrors of the mind, and they are the only ones that can truly harm us.”

Evocative descriptions create a very strong, almost painfully so, sense of place. Whether sitting in a café, trying to avoid freezing from a storm or burning in a fire, you are walking along side with Walt, trying to stay alive and, sometimes, looking at death.

Johnson’s writing and dialogue are effective and peppered with wry humor. Walt, in a particularly perilous moment, thinks “I couldn’t die—I had too many women who would kill me.” Just when you think you know where the plot is going, Johnson changes direction and, sometimes, your perceptions of events. What could have been a stereotypical hard-boiled action story, is so much more. The literary references enhance both the story and the characters without ever feeling forced or contrived.

If anyone knows how to tell a story, it’s Craig Johnson, and “Hell is Empty” is one of his best.

HELL IS EMPTY (Pol Proc-Sheriff Walt Longmire-Wyoming-Cont) – Ex
Johnson, Craig – 7th in series
Viking, ©2011, AUP – Hardcover ISBN: 9780670022779

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Aug 21, 2011 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, series, western, audio, funny, midwest, mysteries

A couple of years ago I wrote that it takes a brave man to create a novel that parallels and paraphrases the greats like Shakespeare and Dante. But Johnson takes it on handily: everybody in this new addition to his Sheriff Longmire series reads Dante—a paperback copy makes its way through backpacks and winter whiteouts to mountain peaks and cabin hideouts. It makes me want to go back and wrassle with The Inferno some more. FBI agents, Indians, cops, murderers and gang-bangers--everyone finds so...more A couple of years ago I wrote that it takes a brave man to create a novel that parallels and paraphrases the greats like Shakespeare and Dante. But Johnson takes it on handily: everybody in this new addition to his Sheriff Longmire series reads Dante—a paperback copy makes its way through backpacks and winter whiteouts to mountain peaks and cabin hideouts. It makes me want to go back and wrassle with The Inferno some more. FBI agents, Indians, cops, murderers and gang-bangers--everyone finds something in Dante to quote and apply to their own situation. It helps, I suppose, to have created a long-running character called Virgil, but Johnson also gave us a Beatrice. Perhaps Johnson is letting us in on his grand scheme when he created such memorable characters in this series in the first place.

There is a Homer, too. Homer doesn’t have a starring role, but comes back in with a refrain now and again—a friendly voice with words of warning for Sheriff Longmire who was tasked with turning over a group of misanthropes to a team of FBI taking them to jail sentences far from Wyoming. The turnover goes wrong, a winter storm closes the mountain pass, the convicts escape, and hostages are taken. Hell, it turns out, is not hot, but cold, just as Dante tells us.

Johnson has created characters in this series that make one so glad that we have a west so very different from our eastern shores. Lawmen, Indians, horses, wild animals—Johnson makes trekking big mountains palpable, and we wish, really wish, that we could actually meet people with such depths of compassion and friendly openness as we meet in his books. In this way, he reminds me of Maeve Binchy, who is one of the greats for translating everyday life into conversation. Both Binchy and Johnson write fiction that hints at romance, simply because we know it cannot be true, or real, but we wish it were so. Would it sound silly if I said he makes me proud to be American? Proud, not in the political sense, but in the sense that he has created people and a place and a history that I am glad I can claim is at least partly mine, if only because I am American, too. And I can go to Wyoming whenever I want.

I listened to this audiobook with great pleasure. Narrated by George Guidall, it seems a perfect vehicle for his voice. The reading is a perfect pairing of great writing and great reading.
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Oct 24, 2012 Sherry Beth Preston rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

As the Crow Flies opens with Henry Standing Bear planning Cady Longmire’s wedding. Only weeks before the wedding he discovers the outdoor venue is double-booked with a Cheyenne language immersion class offered through the Dull Knife College. Standing Bear and Longmire are faced with confronting Arbitus, the formidable college librarian who has made the arrangements for the class. The chief of the Northern Cheyenne declined to help them negotiate with her, claiming, “That librarian over at the co...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Kathleen McFall rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've just discovered the talented Craig Johnson. This book was my first (I got wind of it awhile back via a review of Hell Is Empty on BookGasm). I've now finished Hell Is Empty along with two others and am contemplating a fourth. That should tell you something. This is a good solid series, so far, one that need not be read in sequence - each stands alone - although there are threads that carry from one to the other, largely related to the relationships among the characters. These relationship l...more

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Nov 05, 2011 Kevintipple rated it 5 of 5 stars

It’s May in Wyoming and Sheriff Walt Longmire would like to get the prisoner transfer finished and go home as he has plans. It has been a long day already and having to stop for food at the South Fork Lodge in the heart of the Bighorn Mountains was a necessary risk. Sheriff Longmire and Santiago are transporting three murderers to the custody of the FBI and private company transport guards and will meet them soon. Once the prisoners are turned over their work will be done.

But, of course, things...more

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Oct 25, 2011 Gloria Feit rated it 4 of 5 stars

This, the seventh novel in the Walt Longmire series, is perhaps the most harrowing. It starts out simply enough, with Walt, the Sheriff of a Wyoming county, and his deputies transporting three murderers to a rendezvous with two other local Sheriffs and Federal officials. One of the felons, a psychopath who says he hears supernatural voices, has indicated he killed a young Indian boy years before, and offers to locate the bones for the officials. There is a rumor, also, that he has secreted $1.4...more

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Sep 22, 2011 Hallie rated it 5 of 5 stars

With "Hell is Empty," Craig Johnson delivers an action-packed Western thriller, rife with evocative setting and literary allusion. This seventh novel featuring wise-cracking Sheriff Walt Longmire creeps stealthily out of the corral with an increasingly tense setup. Longmire and his colleagues are ferrying three prisoners, all of them convicted killers, up Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains to a remote spot where FBI operatives are waiting.

Though the prisoners are shackled, the atmosphere feels fraught...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Walter Longmire is my kinda guy and my kind of hero. I love watching him think and fight and bicker with Henry. I love watching him work his way through the complex relationships -- personal, class, racial, historical, class -- that overlay his big small town.

This book, though, lacks all of that.

I get why Mr. Johnson wrote this book. It's a classic hero's journey -- out into the wilderness, with a spirit guide (none other than Virgil, at that!), man against man against nature, to come through...more Walter Longmire is my kinda guy and my kind of hero. I love watching him think and fight and bicker with Henry. I love watching him work his way through the complex relationships -- personal, class, racial, historical, class -- that overlay his big small town.

This book, though, lacks all of that.

I get why Mr. Johnson wrote this book. It's a classic hero's journey -- out into the wilderness, with a spirit guide (none other than Virgil, at that!), man against man against nature, to come through and find some redemption on the other side. It's the story of a man stripped to the core of himself. With lots and lots of Dante. A little Shakespeare thrown in for fun.

The magical/spiritual side of the big Sheriff has always been one of my favorites and Mr. Johnson has always handled it with a deft, light touch.

Until now.

I'm not saying it's a bad book. It's a great book. It's just not the sort of book I wanted. This is Walt in the wilderness, alone except for Virgil (who may or may not be there). Henry and Vic and the crew are largely absent, and with them much of the charm that I adore.

In addition, Walt's going up this mountain, on this insane quest, breaking his mind and body against a blizzard, a mountain, fugatives, a wildfire.... why? I mean, yes, to get the hostages back, but really, Mr. johnson is invoking the Hero's Journey/Redemption without a REASON. Walt's not looking for redemption. Or forgiveness. Or to find his manhood. And yeah, there's a hostage, but that's almost incidental -- the spiritual aspect is much more strongly emphasized. It seems like it's mostly a matter of vengeance for Owen. In which case, why didn't he just plug the bad guy when he had the chance?

The whole betrayal/traitor thing is hit hard, too, with a really minor payoff.

For people who read this series for the two-fisted testosterone that sometimes drips from its pages, this is a great book. For those who like the landscape, the Native American culture and spirituality, the wisecracking well-read detective, this is a great book. Heck, for me it was a great book. It just didn't play to Walter's strengths, IMHO.

On the other hand, at least one aspect played to Mr. Johnson's strengths. The writing is breathtakingly beautiful, as always. Mr. Johnson loves his landscape and writes it with a passion and devotion that Dante's Beatrice could only wish for. I read it in the middle of 90-degree-plus heat wave, with humidity like a swimming pool on my neck and I was cold in my core, reading about the blizzard.

And the minor characters that do show up are beautifully drawn, as always. I kinda have a crush on Omar.
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Jul 03, 2011 Grey853 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jun 26, 2011 Kathleen Hagen added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-audio-books, 2011-mysteries

Hell is Empty, by Craig Johnson, b-plus, narrated by George Guidall, produced by Recorded Books, downloaded from audible.com.

In this seventh entry, Absaroka County sheriff, Walt Longmire, is pushed beyond his limits. When three hardened convicts escape FBI custody in a mountain blizzard, an armed psychopath leads them up Big Horn Mountain. Longmire struggles to track their ascent up the mountain in a white-out blizzard, stubbornly refusing to give up, aided again apparently by spirits of dead In...more

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Jun 16, 2011 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense, thriller

"Hell is Empty" is a suspense/thriller about a sheriff tracking down a bunch of very bad criminals--including a serial murderer--during a horrible blizzard on an isolated mountain all by himself. There was a also paranormal (ghost/spirit) element. The draw of the story was mainly the suspense created by the physical danger, which it did well.

This was the seventh book in the series. This novel referred briefly to a couple of events in previous novels, so you might wish to read them first. Besides...more

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Jun 12, 2011 Debra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller-suspense

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here" wrote Shakespeare in The Tempest. True enough, in this, the darkest of the Sheriff Longmire mysteries set in Absaroka County WY.

Walt is transporting prisoners to a meet up with the Feds for some mysterious reason. All murderers who make ordinary folks quake in their boots, one of them - Shade - is bad enough he makes the other murderers quake. With a massive blizzard coming up on the Bighorn Mountains, everything goes wrong....

As always Johnson writes...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Jen A. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

My dad has given up on the Longmire series, mainly because he doesn't feel like the situations Walt is getting himself into are exactly plausible -- and to a certain degree, he's right. Sheriff Walt Longmire is one stubborn guy, often walking into impossible situations, slogging through them with high doses of luck and superhuman resolve-slash-stamina, and coming out on the other end bruised and beaten, often rescued by friends from becoming a "Sheriff Popsicle," but always getting his guy.

Mom a...more My dad has given up on the Longmire series, mainly because he doesn't feel like the situations Walt is getting himself into are exactly plausible -- and to a certain degree, he's right. Sheriff Walt Longmire is one stubborn guy, often walking into impossible situations, slogging through them with high doses of luck and superhuman resolve-slash-stamina, and coming out on the other end bruised and beaten, often rescued by friends from becoming a "Sheriff Popsicle," but always getting his guy.

Mom and I are still reading, yet she had trouble with this particular adventure. There's a heavy-handedness concerning Dante's Inferno, coupled with a "what is reality?" feature and several dreaming episodes that were a bit hard to follow.

Having watched 127 Hours (movie about a guy who gets trapped in a canyon), I've been exposed in a visual way to witnessing what a person might go through, mentally, in an extreme situation. This book sees Walt out stalking a crazy killer sociopath up a mountain through a blizzard + forest fire + guns + knives + adventure snow vehicles + other killers + hostages + a dead boy's bones + hypothermia + not a lot of either sleep or food + YOU GET THE PICTURE. Walt is "helped" by Virgil, the dead boy's Indian grandfather (and a focus of a previous book in the series) -- the main question here is, "Is Virgil dead or alive?" Johnson plays with that right up until the end, even having Walt and Virgil argue about who's dead and who's alive.

If I had read Dante or had a better understanding of that text, that might have helped to dissect Hell Is Empty, but without a desire to review this book as if for a college English class, I settled with just leaning back and enjoying the adventure. At times, I wondered if this was going to be Sheriff Longmire's last one... but Johnson saves his hero in the end.

Longmire is now also a TV show -- and not a bad one! But the casting for Walt gives us more a lean, Clint Eastwood-esque "quiet man with big hat" and less a "250-lb bear of a sheriff". Lou Diamond Phillips as Henry is just... smaller than I'd imagined. But Vic is pretty spot-on. It'll be interesting to see if the show allows Walt's adventures to grow to such epic proportions as we've seen the paper Walt rise to in just seven books (but hopefully they'll cast a monster of a man to play Virgil properly).(less)

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Jun 12, 2011 Patty rated it 5 of 5 stars

Usually I wait a while after finishing a book before writing the review. But, since there are almost no words to describe this book I figured, what the heck.

I've been a big Craig Johnson/Walt Longmire fan for several years now and have always considered his first, The Cold Dish, my favorite. Hell is Empty hasn't surpassed it but it is in a dead heat.

Walt and Sancho are delivering some prisoners to the FBI when things go bad. Many FBI are killed and the most dangerous of the criminals are on the...more

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Apr 17, 2013 Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Longmire books stand on their own, but it really behooves a reader to read them in the order they are written. Never has that been as important as this entry in the saga.

Unlike the last book that eased you into the main story, this one grabs the reader from the opening and never lets up. There is a heavy hand with the mysticism; if you enjoyed that aspect of the first book you'll love it, if you didn't, well, this isn't the one for you.

The story is framed in an updated "Inferno", much like O...more

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Jun 17, 2011 Leslie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Walt Longmire is the consummate sheriff in this hybrid mystery/Western. Johnson's ability to convey mood and character in a few well-written sentences is still amazing in this, the seventh in the Longmire series.

Set in the Bighorn range of Wyoming, place functions as almost another character in these mysteries, with the topography and the land's history conspiring to steal the stage from Walt and his fellows. Those readers uncomfortable with the possibility of supernatural forces may be unhappy...more

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Jun 25, 2011 Spuddie rated it 4 of 5 stars

#7 Walt Longmire mystery in which Walt ends up mostly alone in the high reaches of the Bighorn Mountains as he plods after a prisoner, a ruthless psychopath who escaped in a prisoner transfer gone horribly wrong. Alone with his thoughts, fears, and possibly some strange Native American spirits, Walt isn't sure what's real and what's not.

I will say that so far this is my least favorite of the series--not because of the large amount of so-called 'woo woo' ('paranormal/spirit activity') but becaus...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Marilyn rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book in the Longmire series certainly ups the ante. The protagonist pushes the envelope as he goes into Hell after the bad guy and comes out barely alive, but having accomplished his mission as usual. And, once again the Native American mysticism figures heavily on the side of justice. This is not a book for the faint of heart although I must admit to skimming much of the final trek up the mountain peak when I got a bit weary of the chase. I happen to like the idea of being accompanied by t...more

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Jan 15, 2013 Jennifer rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fans of James Lee Burke

Recommended to Jennifer by: Craig Johnson

"Hell is empty and all the devils are here." Though this latest Walt Longmire's title comes from Shakespeare, the story itself is more influenced by Dante, down to a copy of The Inferno that Walt ends up carrying with him on his journey up into the mountains. This is the novel that I could see most easily becoming a movie. The story starts with Walt doing a prisoner transport to the county line but, as you might imagine, things don't go well and Walt ends up tracking the group of escaped prisone...more

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Nov 28, 2011 Patty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: audiobooks, readin11

I believe that this is Craig Johnson's newest (#7) Sheriff Walt Longmire novel and I definately think it is the best.

Walt has been sheriff in Absaroka County, Wyoming for more than thirty years and has had many harrowling experiences but this time he encounters a snowstorm deep within the Big Horn mountains while pursuing a confessed murderer.
As usual, his connection to Indian mysticiam plays a big part in this life threatening experience and a battered paperback of Dante's "Inferno" plays a p...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Teresa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Walt Longmire sure takes a beating in this one but, true to Mr Johnson's word, it isn't a repeat of the "Walt is really, really cold" scenario. People already enamored with the endearing (and enduring) sheriff will enjoy this latest installment; newbies will find themselves wanting to read more of Johnson's work, I'd reckon. If you like murder mysteries, suspense, modern-ish American West or just plain old ethical characters taking on diabolical schemers, I'd wager you'll enjoy Johnson's story-t...more

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Jul 21, 2011 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-thriller-goodies

First, I have a request for Craig Johnson--please! no more stories where Walt is on a mountain, on foot, during a blizzard. Please!!
This starts as a simple 'track down the psycho escaped prisoner' story. And, in a way, the story remains just that. But it is so much more--a story of survival and a story that explores the boundaries of reality. That's a fancy way of saying that, for vast stretches of the action, the reader is never sure what's really happening. It is as if the reader has suffered...more

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Jul 30, 2011 Anthony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, mystery

Well, good ole Walt is in for a beating. I really enjoyed the story. I agree that I miss the character interaction between Walt - Henry - and the PD but it was good to see Omar again and Virgil. I laughed out loud a few times. One of the jokes I was surprised the liberal PC editors in NY let slide. I guess he has good editors who know funny when they read it. It was a little disappointing because you knew what the whole story was going to be about after reading the quote from "The Tempest." It w...more

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Jul 06, 2011 Cathy Cole rated it 5 of 5 stars

First Line: "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?"

If the title of this book sounds familiar, it's a partial quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "Hell is empty And all the devils are here." I was in complete agreement with Shakespeare when the book opens with Walt and Deputy Saizarbitoria in a restaurant making sure their prisoners eat their lunches. All three prisoners are murderers, and two of them are way off the crazy chart.

Just as my nerves calmed down due to...more First Line: "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?"

If the title of this book sounds familiar, it's a partial quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "Hell is empty And all the devils are here." I was in complete agreement with Shakespeare when the book opens with Walt and Deputy Saizarbitoria in a restaurant making sure their prisoners eat their lunches. All three prisoners are murderers, and two of them are way off the crazy chart.

Just as my nerves calmed down due to two of Absaroka County's finest doing everything by the book (and then some), the prisoners are transferred to FBI custody and put into a van with more dangerous prisoners. Walt has to go along because they're still in his jurisdiction. Even though it's May, that means nothing in the high mountains, and there's a humdinger of a snowstorm coming. The way Walt figures it, the FBI and the prisoners will be out of his territory and he'll be back home enjoying dinner with Vic before the storm hits.

Yeah. Right.

The prisoners escape with hostages and head higher into the mountains. While Walt still has a phone that works, he gives his dispatcher orders for his troups, and then he heads out to capture the bad guys. Alone. In a howling snowstorm. Why? In Walt's own words:

"I applied the simple rule that allowed me to make stupid decisions in these types of situations: If I was down there, would I want someone coming after me?

Yep."

When you're a hostage and scared out of your wits, the foremost thing on your mind is COME SAVE ME! See why I'd vote for Walt Longmire?

You do have to wonder if Walt's lost a few marbles, though. The weather is right from the bottom circle of Dante's Hell. He can barely see. It's more than cold enough to freeze bits of him off. The terrain is rugged and not easy to traverse on a sunny summer's day. And he keeps seeing things. If all that weren't bad enough, the craziest escapee of them all keeps playing mind games with him.

Once those prisoners escape, this book grabbed me by the throat and would not let go. Walt's trademark humor is there to help lighten what would otherwise be a very grim plot. Hell Is Empty is very much his show. Everyone else is on the sidelines, fighting the storm in an attempt to break through and help. Johnson builds so much tension that it's almost impossible to put the book down.

One man against the elements. One man to stand up against the bad guys. Walt Longmire is my sheriff of choice. I just wish he'd be able to chase the bad guys in good weather. In a field of flowers. Under sunny skies and a balmy breeze. He's no spring chicken anymore, and I want him to last through many more books to come!(less)

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Aug 14, 2012 Steve Howes rated it 4 of 5 stars

In my opinion, this is one of the better books in the author's Walt Longmire series. If you are in any way interested in Native American spirituality and mysticism, this book is one you will enjoy. Without giving too much away, Longmire is assisted in his quest to capture an escaped criminal by an Indian recluse he had previously jailed. The chase leads to the highest peak in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains and Walt nearly dies from exposure and hypothermia during the chase. When the dust settles, n...more

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Sep 26, 2012 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Hell is empty and all the bad guys are here of the title is a paraphrase from Shakespeare's the Tempest. Johnson has said that he would never be a formula writer as he would get too bored. Each book of his that I have read bears that out as they each have a different core structure and are shaped by different styles and imperatives. This particular one is very strong in magical realism, we don't really know what is happening in reality and what is happening in symbolism in his mind as Longmire e...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Mark Stevens rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Hell is Empty" is one long and enjoyable slog up Cloud Peak in Wyoming. It's an extended chase in the loose form of a mystery novel. It's an existential journey that touches on good and evil, life and death, dedications and obligations, mountain peaks of insight and the depths of misery. It's about confronting your demons, taking on your enemies. "Hell is Empty" is more character study than tale of suspense but the slow-motion pursuit up this snowy, rugged peak certainly has its hair-raising mo...more

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Jan 16, 2012 Joanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, mystery

I do love Johnson's smart-alecky tough cowboy sheriff, but, my goodness, this book was a slog. All the joy and cameraderie that usually make these novels so great is usually provided by Vic and Henry, neither of whom get much of an appearance. Instead it's Walt climbing ever upward in the snow (yes, we've done this before) chasing after a lunatic killer, and he hears things and sees visions and we aren't sure what's real and neither is he. And he's carrying Inferno, and if I'd read more of that...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Maddy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-reads

PROTAGONIST: Sheriff Walt Longmire
SETTING: Bighorn Mountains, Wyoming
SERIES: #7 of 7
RATING: 4.25
WHY: Walt Longmire is assigned to transport a group of convicts and federal marshals to the site where one of the convicts, Raynaud Shade, states that he buried a young boy 10 years earlier. Facing a horrific ice storm, Shade escapes with the rest of the group and Walt goes into full chase mode. He is aided by the mystical uncle of the young boy. I had issue with the lack of development of Shade--we n...more

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Sep 11, 2011 Crys Williams rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: listened, mystery-thriller

Update: The last third of the book was worth trudging through the first two-thirds :-)

What a bore...where are all the other characters besides Walt?

And the few new characters there are have little depth (so far). We're not even privy to much of Walt's musings or mysticism, as in earlier books...just an unending stream of occurrences with snow travels in between. I couldn't put Johnson's earliest books down, or rather: pause the audio. Now I barely can be bothered to finish.

Really miss the lyrica...more

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About Craig Johnson

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

American novelist and playwright. He lives in Ucross, near Sheridan, Wyoming, population 25.

Johnson has written eight novels. His Sheriff Walt Longmire novels include The Cold Dish, Death Without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man's Moccasins, Junkyard Dogs, The Dark Horse (which received starred re...more

More about Craig Johnson...

Books by Craig Johnson

Death Without Company (Walt Longmire, #2)

Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire, #4)

Kindness Goes Unpunished (Walt Longmire, #3)

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9794605-hell-is-empty?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311281821l/9794605.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9794605-hell-is-empty?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson[/url]

Hell Is Empty (Walt Longmire #7)

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