I have read most of Mr. Hillerman's Chee/Leaphorn books and enjoyed all of them, even the early ones that lacked the depth of his later works, but this book left me cold. Every character of worth Hillerman created had to have spot in this book, and many didn't fit well. This was too contrived to hold interest.

As an on-the-mark political rant on the theft of Indian oil monies, drug smuggling, failure of the drug laws to reduce drug use, success of drug laws to maintain prices of illegal drugs, poltical influence on and misuse of federal agencies,one won't find better. Both as a novel and as a mystery, this harlequin romance is Hillerman's worst.

The "sinister pig" in this story is not just a machine used in pipelines. That would be pretty meaningless to us. Our sinister pig is the story's villain, sinister because he will kill anyone to further his goals, and a pig because, wealthy that he is, he never has enough.

He is a very safe villain. Everybody can hate him. He's a politically correct villain. Some rich pig who is greedy as can be, and murderous. What's not to hate?

This was my first Hillerman story, so I was not at all familiar with any of the characters. There isn't one character in this story that I feel compelled to read more about. I'm not rushing to find another Hillerman story.

I didn't read the book. I listened to the audio book while at work. I'm always appreciative of someone reading a story to me while I'm stuck at work. I can't sit behind my desk and read.

The opening of the book is a shocker. We are introduced to a nearly retired CIA agent. He is, apparently, the star of the book. But no, he's not. Boom, he's gone.

The rest of the story has to play out without the main character. It is one of the oddest structured books I've ever come across. The first character, the one who dominated the first chapter, is gone. Bye. See ya. Now on to someone else.

And there is no star after him. There is a handful of co-stars. I'm not used to that. This is very unique in that regard. Normally, a story has a star. This one doesn't.

One drawback with being read to is that we are dependent on the person reading, and we have to listen to him do all the characters. I don't understand why they don't have a group of people reading, each taking one character. I'm tired of hearing the guy say "He said" over and over. I'm even more tired of hearing a male voice portray a female character by changing to a really horrible imitation of a female voice. Couldn't they hire a woman to read with him? We hear the guy talk in a higher voice. It is very poorly done. What else is he going to do? He can't make himself sound anything like a woman.

There is only one interesting character in this story. He is an employee of the sinister pig. It falls to him to execute innocent girls. The story progresses in the most expected way. I could have written parts of the story line. It is so obvious. Is this good guy actually going to murder the girls? Somehow I doubt it. Are the good guys going to win in the end? Yeah, I kind of think they will.

So that's the lowdown on this book. The people who rated it five stars were overrating it, and the people who rated it one star were underrating it, and you've just read the most definitive and accurate review you'll find on this website.

Hillerman is at his best again. This will keep you turning pages until you reach the last page. Hillerman's style is evident and welcomed.

I have read every Leaphorn/Chee book by Hillerman more than once and am a great fan. I just finished this book and discussed it with a friend.. we both agreed it was so disappointing.. we cannot believe it was written by the same person. The writing was awkward and heavy-handed... by the second page I suspected something was wrong here. It reads like some cheap Harlequin mystery/romance.
The sensitive handling of Navajo spiritual beliefs, the beautiful rendering of the landscape, the terse but meaningful conversations are all missing.
All I can say is, the publishers need to pay more attention to future manuscripts and insure that a writer of Tony Hillerman's caliber is not allowed to decline in the public eye... he has given us much enjoyment.... he deserves better.
And if someone else is fleshing out Hillerman's plot lines.. the public should be warned.