“I recently finished reading The Shape Shifter by Tony Hillerman. I have read quite a few of his books, and while it was an entertaining story (as are most of his books), it wasn't my favorite, so it would not break my Top Ten, but perhaps somewhere near the bottom of my Top Twenty-Five. It certainly is not Hillerman's best work. I have read a lot of stories about the legendary Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn (now retired) of the Navajo Tribal Police, and there is little that surprises me about his capabilities. However, this book, more than any other, brought out a certain character trait (perhaps character flaw?) about the Lieutenant, and this is how much coffee he consumes during his investigations! Now I did not keep a precise count, but skimming back over the first hundred pages of The Shape Shifter, the retired police officer averages about a cup of coffee for every ten pages! If that holds true throughout the 276 page book, Leaphorn drank around twenty-eight cups of coffee! No wonder he has trouble sleeping at night! Just a note for those of you who are Tony Hillerman fans, PBS made three of his books (A Thief of Time, Coyote Waits, and Skinwalkers) into movies. My wife and I saw them when they came out on television and really enjoyed them. I would highly recommend checking them out at your local library as Leaphorn is played by Magua from Last of the Mohicans and Jim Chee is played by Victor from Smoke Signals.”
Brett J wrote this review Sunday, February 17 2008.
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