The First Eagle

Rating:
Summary: An interesting and very human crime story.
Review: Isn't it interesting how some of the best reads are eligantly straight forward in presentation. This crime story has terrific and very human characters with whom one easily realates. The reader might even find a little love story in there to boot! The narration is also superb.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best of the Hillerman mysteries.
Review: Tony Hillerman surprises by providing even more suspense both with the murder question and the personal relationships of Jim Chee/Janet Pete than in previous novels. An excellent provider of character and mood, Hillerman outdoes himself in this intriguing story of ordinary people and the scientific community.

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Summary: Vintage Hillerman and the Navajos - Fine Read!
Review: I, too, have read all of Hillerman's books and have enjoyed them all. I really like the modern day culture of the Navajo and Desert Southwest. However, I am now tired of Janet Pete & Jim Chee's non-relationship. I always feel very sad for Jim Chee because he's a good guy and he keeps going after the WRONG woman!

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Summary: Masterful Hillerman - A continuation of excellence
Review: As with all the Hillerman books in the past, I loved "The First Eagle". Once again, Hillerman has been able to transport the reader into the storyline, giving one a sense of ownership with the characters. Joe Leaphorn moves into the next phase of his life, actually showing signs of excitement and youth again. Jim Chee also sees life in a different vain, moving forward in his own right. With precise research, creative visualization and a mixture of charm and wit, Tony Hillerman has indeed written another winner. Read and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Not his best, but Hillerman, none the less.
Review: Hasn't anyone else reviewed the audio version? Here's mine. Having read (and listened to, in some cases)all of Mr. Hillerman's previous novels involving Chee and Leaphorn, it's good to visit with old friends again. On the other hand, I'd have to agree with those who feel that the plague aspect seems to have been glossed over as a somewhat commonplace event. I was looking forward to something that might have threatened the world. Unfortunately, I listened to the abridged tape, so it's possible that some of the more interesting detail was lost. Unfortunatly, reader Guidall sounds to me, as if he hasn't quite finished swallowing a mouthfull of water when he speaks, and I frequently have to look for moisture coming out of my tape player. Another reader may have made the tape version more enjoyable.

As any true Hillerman fan will conclude, however, any new novel featuring Chee and Leaphorn in the four corners vistas starts out, per se, almost as good as it gets; so even a lesser performance is still thoroughly enjoyed. I now join the thousands of other fans who are anxiously awaiting the next in the series.

Rating:
Summary: Hillerman owes success to a decorating style?
Review: A friend, who likes the earlier Hillerman mysteries, contends that his great success came because of the popularity of Santa Fe Style. His latest effort unfortunately gives credence to her theory. The First Eagle has no spark or energy, making one wonder if Hillerman is so tired of his characters that the exhaustion spilled over into the book. Apparently the editor was tired, too. Early on Leaphorn learns that a suspect wasn't teaching as he'd said he was yet, well over a hundred pages later, he and Chee are still talking about checking out the suspect's alibi. Chee reports seeing a bicycle on top of the murderer's motor home, then later says he saw an empty bike rack on the back of the motor home. Sloppy.

Hillerman's vocabulary and dialog desperately need updating, as well. His characters too often speak in the vernacular of the '50s although most of them weren't even born then. Chee sees a "dirt bike" on top of the motor home, and I immediately was jarred out of the story, wondering how the murderer had gotten a motorcycle up there by himself. It was only later that I realized Hillerman didn't know that a "dirt bike" is an off-road motorcycle. What Chee had seen was a mountain bike--which Hillerman has the murderer ride twenty very hard miles through gravel, rock and sand--without leaving a single track, no less.

Plot and characterization have never been Hillerman's strong suit, but when the reader knows who the murderer is at his first appearance, the heroes only end up looking particularly stupid. How much more entertaining the book would have been if Leaphorn and Chee had fingered him right away, but, recognizing the importance of his work, spent the rest of the book leading others astray while making sure no one else fell victim until the work was done and the murderer dead. Seeing how Chee rationalizes this "in the Navajo way" and Leaphorn in his more "anglo way" would have been a fascinating character study. Instead we get Chee endlessly whining about his girlfriend like a lovelorn seventeen-year-old. I'd hoped that when his uncle died, Chee would finally realize that the first word that always came to him when thinking of Janet was "beautiful" and how shallow their relationship was. Sadly, no. And--a minor point--the persistently clichéd portrayal of FBI agents as supercilious bozos is past tiresome.

Because I enjoyed the earlier books so much, I still hope Hillerman has one final book in him to wrap up the series. Perhaps knowing it is the last will energize him so he can write a mystery that keeps readers guessing at least half the book and a mature Jim who resolves some of his cultural conflicts and, incidentally, sees the right woman right under his nose--Bernie. That would be a book worth 4 stars at least.

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Summary: I love Tony Hillerman and his books are very special
Review: when I read the first novel of him, I started dreaming because I lost my heart in New Mexico. I have all of his books and they the most precious thing except my daughter Savannah I have

Rating:
Summary: Not The Best
Review: DISCLAIMER: I love Tony Hillerman. I've read every word he's published, but The First Eagle is not one of his best efforts. In the other Leaphorn/Chee novels, there are several plot lines that all converge. This story one had only one, despite attempting to bring Chee's old girlfriend back into the mix.

I've learned a lot about the Navajo people from Tony, but learned nothing new in The First Eagle.

Rating:
Summary: One of Hillerman's finest
Review: Delightful reading of the weaving of a new character in with the old - Retired Lt. Leaphorn's lady friend is a fresh face, who has something valuable to contribute to the story. Leaphorn continues to "teach" Jim Chee the finer details of detective/police work. Good definition of Chee and Janet Pete's love/hate relationshiop. Good read. Left me wanting the story to continue.

Rating:
Summary: excellent! I found myself researching the topics.
Review: Tony H. is the BEST! One can only dream of meeting Joe Leaphorn or Jim Chee. This is the greatest. Jim Chee is so accurately depicted, I feel I could buy him a cup of joe in a 4corners cafe. Jim Chee shows us what honor is all about, how we must disreguarge public acknowledegement and accept what life gives us. We must DO THE RIGHT THING. Jim Chee is the person I most want to be like. Mr. H's novels are the best I have ever read.