Rating: 
Summary: Hillerman returns with a fast-paced read
Review: In "The Sinister Pig," Tony Hillerman tackles more universal concerns. His Navajo Reservation gang is up to its elbows in trying to solve yet another homicide. This time, it's a mysterious agent whose death extends clues in numerous directions, not the least to the very center of America itself, Washington D.C. Hillerman's action takes place almost entirely off the Reservation. The complicated web he has woven involves primarily the drug trade, massive fraud by oil and gas organizations, and the smuggling of illegal aliens across the Mexican border. Hillerman has chosen to take his socially significant themes to a much broader horizon and readers may feel they're reading from a daily newspaper (lately described as "America's newest fiction form!") editorial page. Still, the issues he present couldn't be more relevant. Granted, he takes care of his established characters. The Legendary Joe Leaphorn contributes heavily and Jim Chee faces a complicated and complex set of personal struggles: his relationship with Bernie, his responsibility to his native culture, and his loyalty to his job. Hillerman has no problem with any of this, yet "The Sinister Pig" seems to move at a pace unusually fast for the author. This book seems to concentrate on action rather than devote much time to personal philosophy and Navajo culture. Nonetheless, Hillerman has another winner.
Rating: 
Summary: A Departure for Hillerman.
Review: I love Tony Hillerman. In my mind, he cannot write a bad novel. Also he seems to be a very genuine individual. The characters he creates are unique in mystery fiction. I would love just reading about them going to the mall. This is most conventional Hillerman yet, and I don't mind. It starts with a mysterious man who gets killed in the first chapter (in Hillerman novels, the murder always happens in the first chapter). It then brings Jim Chee in, them switches to Bernie Manuelito far from home and eventually in enters Joe Leaphorn with his professor friend. And eventually even Cowboy Dashee (?) enteres the story. Its like a gathering of old friends. It even has a sympathic hitman. I agree with most all of the criticism of this book and I don't care. A few years ago, Mr. Hillerman had a case of cancer and didn't write anything for a while. I guess I count every book after that a bonus book. As you can tell, this is not an objective review. I'll take a book like this from Hillerman over about every other author I read which includes Jonathan Kellerman, Ruth Rendell and Colin Dexter. I like Alex Delaware, Inspector Wexford and Chief Inspector Morse, but the Navajo people as portrayed by Mr. Hillerman are uniquely interesting.
Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it more than other reviewers...
Review: I've read all his books. I found this a quick enjoyable read. I'll admit the captivating imagery of the 4 corners area that Hillerman created in earlier books is missing, but I still liked the book. It drew me in and got me emotionally involved. The story was actually more interesting to me than some of the stories in his more highly regarded books, including some of those which had that magical imagary that this book is missing. If you're a fan, you should read it coz you'll probably like the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Not His Best
Review: As a fan of Hillerman's previous works, I was disappointed with the last couple of books, as are apparently a lot of other dedicated readers.
The plot of Sinister Pig is okay, but the book is short and rather thin on development. The evil antagonist is revealed early, a fact that goes against Hillerman's previous books in which you can guess along with the policemen, making the read less interesting. And what about Leaphorn? If this guy ever dies, the entire Navajo Police Department might as well close their doors.
Hillerman seems like he just MUST solve one of the romantic entanglements that have been drawn out for years, and one that has no special reason to be solved.
The proof editors for this book, as well as for the last one, need to be fired, considering the missing parenthesis, missing words, etc. The amount of missing money/lawsuit amount from the oil and gas trust fund is given at three different dollar figures in three different parts of the book, one of which mistakes millions for billions. In the middle of one passage, the dialogue refers to Leaphorn speaking instead of Chee, and Leaphorn isn't even there! Come on guys!
Sad to say that if this was Hillerman's first instead of latest works, I doubt it would sell well. Maybe next time...
If you want a better book, read some of his earlier Navajo works, or at least his autobiography, which was quite well written and reveals Hillerman as the quintissential good ole boy that manages to find comfort and satisfaction with just about anything life give him.
Rating:
Summary: too far roaming
Review: I've fallen in love with Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee in all the other books involving one or both of these Navajo Tribal policemen. It's usually so satisfying to see the way the Legendary Lieutenant approaches a problem, especially in contrast to his younger colleague. So I've always must see what they're up to, and so should most readers who consider the mystery capable of plenty of literary satisfaction. As always, Hillerman's descriptions of the Navajo Nation landscape are wonderful; so real you can almost feel the charged air as summer thunderstorms build, hear water racing down the wash, see and touch the earth. Unfortunately, this latest book strays too far from home. Hillerman doesn't capture the beauty of the more southern desert and Apache country. While Bernie Manuelito is usually somewhat endearing, in this book her behavior is almost too wide-eyed to be plausible, especially considering she's a cop. And Chee and Leaphorn, as well as the ever-appealing Cowboy Dashee, seem like minor characters in what turns out to be a fairly stock spy/thriller caper, with a bad guy so bad he's almost comic. And the ending--please Mr. Hillerman--you've got to keep Jim Chee forever lost and questing! If he grows up, the world will grow old...
Rating:
Summary: Hillerman is on auto pilot
Review: I love Tony Hillerman. I have read every book he has written including all his Chee/Leaphorn books, his children's book, his coffee table book, his memoir, his non-fiction books, etc. I even liked "Finding Moon". Having said this, his last several Chee/Leaphorn books are delivering a diminishing return of enjoyment. "The Sinister Pig" is an acceptable novel but without question the worst Chee/Leaphorn book to date. The books feel particularly strained in how Hillerman tries to bring all of the series characters (Chee, Leaphorn and Bernie) together in unlikely and implausible ways despite their natural separation by age, jobs and hundreds of miles. What I most enjoy about Hillerman are his steady pacing, sense of the environment and interweaving of Navajo and western culture. All of this is present in this novel. What is missing is carefully plotting and crisp dialogue.
Rating: 
Summary: Is Hillerman getting lazy, tired or sick?
Review: I've read all of Hillerman's books, and this one is a major disappointment. It reads like a very rough first draft, a plot sketch. If you pay attention to the bewildering number of characters, the plot plods resolutely forward, no surprises -- and none of the intricate twists that Hillerman has dazzled us with in previous books. The characters are thinly developed (so-o-o-o little tension between major love interests) and seldom manage to rise above pot-boiler level. Unlike his other books that take place on the reservation, there is no interesting information about native Americans, their history, culture, etc. About the only thing this book CAN claim to do is keep you turning the pages. You keep believing that surely the real Tony Hillerman will appear to delight you. Alas, he's asleep at the wheel. It's a shame to see such a talent settle for so little. I am one disappointed fan.
Rating: 
Summary: Jim Chee needs to find Tony Hillerman
Review: I am an ex-cop. I have come to love all the adventures of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, however, this book and the last one seem to have lost the special magic I am use to from a Hillerman novel.
I was very disappointed. I will always be a hugh fan. The book is full of publishing errors.
Rating:
Summary: Once again Jim Chee is on the Case
Review: Jim Chee has a dead body on his hands, one with no ID, wearing expensive clothes and with empty pockets. If things weren't already complicated enough, the situation worsens when the FBI decides the Navajo Tribal Police aren't able deal with the situation and take over the case. Chee knows that something is rotten in Denmark, and he's not about to let the case go until he finds out who the dead man is and why he was killed. What he doesn't know is that when alive, the body belonged to a CIA agent sent undercover to the New Mexico portion of the Four Corners to find out how the oil pipeline system is being used to bypass paying royalty money to the First Nations trust fund. The CIA agent suspected there was more to the job than he was told, but he took it job anyway, which turned out to be a bad idea, because it got him killed. Mr. Hillerman has once delivered a wonderfully complex story that had me reading from cover to cover in one sitting. In this one we see several law enforcement agencies who don't trust each other, we see determined cops, corrupt politicians, men with questionable pasts and we get Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, always a favorite. Plus we get a bit of romance as Jim Chee and former colleague Bernadette Manuelito attempt to come to terms with their relationship in this book that I liked very much. Sophie Cacique Gaul
Rating:
Summary: A good mystery.
Review: I had the CD read by George
Guidall who does an excellent job. Many of the other reviewers tell you the plot so I will just give you my impression. I thoroughly enjoyed the book keeping in mind I have read several other books with the characters of Chee and Leaphorn. I liked the suspense and timing of this book. I have no problem with
Bernie being shaken by her ordeal. I really liked the element of Budge's part in the drama and I especially liked the ending.
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