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Summary: Now Fact Truly is Stranger than Fiction...
Review: I love this book if for no other reason than the personal connection I have with it. I was on a 4th of July weekend roadtrip to Mesa Verde in 1998 during the manhunt that formed the backdrop for this book. We were inquiring at Navajo NM as to the best route from Monument Valley to Mesa Verde, when the Park Ranger suggested that we check with the police on road closures in the area because of the huge manhunt near Bluff. With survivalists, a suicide, and law enforcement trying to burn them out, I remember saying at the time that this sounds like a Tony Hillerman mystery and now it is...I have read/listened to all the Tony Hillerman I could find and while this is not my favorite (Thief of Time), he does a great job of placing his cast of characters into this real context to tell a plausible rest of the story. In addition, to descriptive prose on the Four Corners and tribal mysticism we have all come to expect, I love Hillerman's development of the characters from book to book and ultimately rate the them as much for the breakthroughs and growth of the characters as for the plot. In Hunting Badger both Jim Chee and the supposedly retired Legendary Lt. Joe Leaphorn, seem to be ready to move on with their respective lives. Leaphorn is feeling his way into his growing relationship with Professor Bourboneux who actually contributes to solving the case. And while I was initially disappointed to learn that not much had progressed since First Eagle with local girl Bernie Manuelito, Chee again shows promise that he may really be over Janet Pete. Chee also shows personal growth by reaching resolution around his long-standing quest to be a policeman and Navajo Singer and in acknowledging his friendship with Leaphorn. Finally, as primarily an audiobook listener, I enjoyed the new narrator, George Guidall, who was more reminiscent of Hillerman than Gil Silverbird who sounded like Lou Diamond Phillips' Chee in the movie Dark Wind. But in my (audio)book no one can say Lucachucai like Hillerman himself.
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Summary: Brevity And Clarity: Hillerman's Strength
Review: If brevity is the soul of wit, then clarity is its heart. These two requirements of all good screenwriting are at the heart of Hillerman's Navajo Tribal Police stories. That suggests that Hillerman would have been a terrific screenwriter. He does naturally what many screenwriters never pull off, but thank God his best work is not hidden between the covers of some dust-gathering script behind locked doors at Paramount or Warner Bros. His best work is available for everyone, screenwriters included, to enjoy and to see how brevity and clarity work in any art form. Would that more screenwriters (and politicians) read more of his great work. May Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee drive the dusty back roads of the big rez for many more books.And the next Hillerman book to make it to the big screen, please let it be the master himself who writes the screenplay! Long Live TH!
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Summary: Relationships matter
Review: If we were reading Tony Hillerman for the plots, we wouldn't be sitting here talking. What is great about this book is the maturing relationships of Chee and Leaphorn, their growing ability to be comfortable about themselves, and the possible, successful resolution of their romantic relationships. In other words, we can be grateful that old friends have survived their respective losses and can look ahead. If you like Navajo country, you'll like this, and if you have read all the other books, this is not to be missed.
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Summary: A Grand Birthday Present
Review: I love getting Hillerman books for my birthday! How I enjoyed this book! I told my wife that I hated to keep turning the pages as fast as I was turning them...because the book would soon be consumed. Tony Hillerman provides exactly the sort of reading experience that I relish: believable, sympathetic characters; an outdoor setting where I would like to find myself; and a plot that keeps me guessing. I just wish the gentleman from New Mexico could turn out more than one a year.
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Summary: A welcome visit with old friends
Review: The only trouble with Tony Hillerman's Leaphorn/Chee series is that a new one only appears every two years or so and they only last a few hours. I have to read them in one sitting, and then...it's over. The chance to visit, to watch them solve a mystery, is over all too quickly. Disappointing? No. This book delivers everything I want and expect from it. It entertains, it intrigues, it made time flash by. I picked it up and started reading and the next time I looked up it was 2am and I'd reached the end. Can't ask for more than that.
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Summary: My favorite mystery writer, but . . .
Review: Hunting Badger is a pleasant, easy read, but it has to rank fairly low on the list of Hillerman's great Leaphorn-Chee novels. Although his previous effort, The First Eagle, got mixed reviews, I found it superior to this one in most respects. One question: Where did Chee find Eldon Timms's airplane? Mexican Water? Red Mesa? I'm not sure he found it at all, even though he's credited by several characters with having done so. Either Hillerman on his HarperCollins editor seems to have dropped a paragraph or two somewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: lacks vitality
Review: I have read all of Hillerman's work and this was one of his weakest. It did seem like he was just going through the motions. It was particularly weak on the Navajo culture that is usually fascinating and the reason I read him.
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Summary: Time to Revitalize
Review: I think I have read everything Hillerman has written. Hunting Badger, is, at least in my opinion, his worst work. We already know Chee, Leaphorn and the other staple characters. Very disappointingly, Hunting Badger has no character development of the antagonists, no suspenseful plot and no real conclusion. This book seems to me to be a "My editors want another book." piece. I look forward to additional Hillerman books with hope that he will again do his usual interesting charatcer development as well as geographically detailed work. But, as far as Hunting Badger goes, miss it. It isn't very good. jbd
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Summary: Another Hit From Hillerman
Review: Tony Hillerman has written another engaging Chee/Leaphorn mystery, and although it's not my favorite work of the series, Hunting Badger is an excellent read. As far as contemporary mystery writing is concerned Hillerman is one of the best. The continuing evolution of his main characters is as interesting as the plot. With each book we get to know new sides of Jim Chee and the Legendary Lieutenant Leaphorn who had always been somewhat aloof until his wife's death and his retirement. It's nice to see him tread new ground after all these years. As always Hillerman is extremely adept at evoking the beautiful landscape of the Four Corners region, which regular readers have come to know and love. Within the mystery genre you're not likely to find a better sustained series, and Hunting Badger, if not the best in the series, nicely continues the tradition.
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Summary: More pronounced peaks & valleys than usual for Hillerman...
Review: For me, the '5-star' book of Hillerman's canon is 'A Thief of Time,' which really had a gripping, suprising mystery, good villians, and a good dose of the Navajo culture/geography descriptions that set his books apart. 'Hunting Badger' is, IMHO, a minor work in the pantheon, but extremely readable and enjoyable. It's good to see that as they grow older and more mature, Chee and Leaphorn are finally beginning to develop a relationship that transcends the mentor/acolyte status they've always had and becomes--dare we say it--friendship? Also, it's a relief to see that Chee is finally ditching Janet Pete and opening his mind to a relationship "closer to home," while Leaphorn is finally acknowledging that there is a life after his beloved Emma. These are the real things that are interesting about the story, plot strands that all radiate from the wisdom of a central metaphor, the death of a central Navajo figure in Chee's life. The mystery itself is pretty routine, and the plot, always secondary in a Hillerman novel to the characters, culture, and landscape, is less important than ever. What ultimately makes this rewarding for long-time fans of the series is the satisfying direction Hillerman has established for future novels.
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