It was good until the last fifty pages....

books:


	• Bone Walker (Anasazi Mystery) Kathleen O'Neal Gear, W. Michael Gear, 2001 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 18 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Bone Walker

I found myself in agreement with other readers in that the lives and times of Browser and Catkin are far more interesting than Dusty and Maureen's pathetic F'ed up 20th century existences.

So, to get an expansive uninterrupted narrative simply skip the chapters pertaining to Dusty's unresolved childhood issues. That would be every other chapter if you're keeping score.

Loved it!

I loved this series. Two mysteries; one from the past and one from the present both skillfully woven with a little history and archeology thrown in for good measure and you have a fantastic read. Now that's talent! I'm not ready to see the end of Dusty and Maureen. I hope the series will contiue with a different mystery to solve.

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It was good until the last fifty pages....

Just finished reading Bone Walker. This is the last of the Anasazi Mysteries. I'm assuming that there won't be anymore. Interesting, I had been thinking that this final one was a big improvement over the other two. Some editing issues seemed to be cleaned up. They learned how to spell pinon; studied southwestern cooking (although I don't think I'm going to want to eat huevos rancheros anytime soon - sick to death of them now); I think the Gears even visited Albuquerque. While it was a little hard to get into at first the pace did pick up; the flipping back and forth between centuries wasn't too bad. They even worked out the awkward Maureen-Dusty dynamic; I enjoyed the direction their relationship was taking. Catkin and Stone Ghost were brought back into the picture. Catkin was one rockin' warrior. Browser was great! Little Bone Walker was sad. Overall, it was looking like a fairly good murder mystery mixed in with the Anasazi story. But somehow they managed to drop it in the last fifty pages.

For one thing, all these new characters that were introduced without any direction whatsoever. Yvette's purpose was lost on me. She added nothing to the pace of the story. Reggie needed more page time to work but he didn't get it. We didn't even get a chance to find out what for sure happened to him. Ruth Ann was probably the most uni-dimensional character I've ever read. I didn't believe anything about her. Rupert wasn't that great either considering how important he was. Why wasn't he in more of the story? And how many elderly aunts does Magpie have left to kill off?

Then they gave away the ending to the Anasazi story way too soon. Mysteries are about suspense - you know? Then with the modern mystery I was subjected to a drawing room scene where the murderer reveals his motives. But since the story was pushing well past six hundred pages maybe the authors thought they needed to speed things up. But it was still a poor payoff for my efforts.

But then there's something that didn't occur to me until I got to page 326 of the paperback version - there were no hispanics in the section of the story that takes place in modern times except for the attendant in a parking lot who didn't even get a gender. Just mentioned as "a Hispanic". I do not understand that and it's been rubbing at me ever since. Now I'm wondering if there were any hispanics in the other two. I hate to belabor the issue but hispanics are half the population in New Mexico. You would have to make an effort to avoid them.

So there - those are my thoughts. If another one comes out I probably will read it. Too late to stop now.

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Not as good as the first two

I am a big fan of the People and Anasazi series. This final third book in the latter didn't quite live up to my perhaps too-high expectations. It felt a bit rushed. Plotlines from the first two are rather abruptly dropped (i.e. Sylvia and Steve's love affair) and new characters seem to be ushered hastily in (Rupert, various mean people and random relatives of Dusty's...) I too was annoyed that the evil mother got off scot-free (do the Gears have a thing about letting hot but evil women get off easy in their stories?? See: People of the Lightning, People of the Mist). The supposedly climactic ending reeked a bit too much of formulaic TV-crime-drama staging, with guns being pointed here and there and long explanatory monologues of "Why I did it." There was absolutely no foreshadowing of the key relationships here in the first two books.

The Gears are good enough that even when it's not their best work ever, it's still eminently readable. Maureen and Dusty's growing affection is made believable against all odds, and the intertwining of past and present is handled quite well. But the modern-day drama left much to be desired. Mediocre made-for-TV stuff in the end, despite the well-crafted main characters from the previous two books. I love how it all ties in with People of the Silence.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, award-winning archaeologists and international bestselling authors, break extraordinary new ground in the riveting sequal to their bestselling The Summoning God. Bone Walker is more than a murder mystery, it is a psychological thriller filled with the action that have made this the dynamic duo of the historical. They have breathed life into the vanished world of the Anasazi, bringing out the spirit, the loves, and a mysterious world where mystery and horror lurk in every shadow, behind every door, sometimes right before you. The Gears invite you to follow them down the dark labyrinth of the serial killers mind in Book III of the Anasazi Mysteries.

Eight hundred years have passed since the Mogollon holy man was murdered in Flowing Waters Town. The threads of evil spun by Two Hearts are drawn across time to ensnare modern archaeologists Dusty Stewart and Maureen Cole. The "Wolf Witch" has killed archaeologist Dale Emerson Robertson, and Dusty and Maureen must unmask the murderer before he strikes again. But in so doing, Dusty will root out disturbing secrets about his own past that will cast his father's suicide in an unsettling light. With so many skeletons in the closet, even a bone expert like Maureen can be baffled...and the Wolf Witch is two steps ahead of them, drawing them relentlessly into his trap...

From the national award-winning archaeologists and international bestselling authors of The Visitant and The Summoning God comes a novel of unforgettable terror about a murder in America eight hundred years ago...and a power that transcends time.

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