Nightwing

Rating:
Summary: Where Were The Bats?
Review: "Nightwing" didn't particularly spark my interest when I picked it up a few months ago at a book sale. But after reading "Vespers" by Jeff Rovin, I wanted to continue reading anything scary about bats. Finally, I decided to give it a try after seeing Stephen King's review on the front cover: "I consider it to be one of the best horror novels in the last twenty years."

From the beginning, "Nightwing" doesn't appear like a horror book. We meet Youngman Duran, a Tewa Pueblo deputy, conversing with an old Hopi priest, his uncle, who predicts death and a new beginning for the Hopi people. Youngman doesn't pay much attention to the datura-addicted elder; he finds his prophecies almost comical.

Next Youngman is called to a ranch where three horses have been skinned and left to suffer and die. Nobody knows how it happened. Then the same thing later happens to Youngman's Hopi uncle previously mentioned, Abner Tasupi.

While Youngman is preparing the old man's body for burial, a stranger (Hayden Paine) intrudes and attempts to perform an autopsy on Abner. Paine is a bat specialist and has come up from Mexico to conduct a medical survey. Although Paine and Youngman don't get along at first, they later team up with Youngman's lover, Anne Dillon, to destroy the disease-spreading vampire bats.

The bats, however, play a very small part in this book. I wouldn't even consider it a horror book since the rough Southwest Indian lifestyle overshadows the bats. Furthermore, I'm not sure why the synopsis on the back cover focuses on a deadly mass of bloodthirsty bats when they only dominate a few scenes. I suppose it was the only way to lure anyone into reading this book.

There are some gruesome parts in Nightwing, but the worst ones I can remember are done by humans to animals. For example, a dog is suffocated in a bag instead of quarantined for the plague; a rabbit is slowly drained of blood for a sacrifice. The bat attacks didn't bother me (I expected them), but I was disgusted by the gratuitous animal torture.

The only reason why I gave this book three stars instead of two or one (which it deserved) is because it was written pretty well and there were a few times when it got exciting. Still, it was a waste of my time and I wouldn't recommend this book. It seemed pretty long too for a 210-paged book. That was probably because the chapters were on average 20 pages and paragraphs could run up to a page or more in length.

However, someone must have loved "Nightwing" because it was made into a movie in 1979. I never saw it and I doubt I will.

I do regret reading this book for the sake of bat horror. If you're looking for a good scare, read "Vespers" by Jeff Rovin, which is by far a better horror book than "Nightwing".

Rating:
Summary: AN HONEST TO GOD CREEPY STORY
Review: Smith is a favorite of mine. I must admit I was skeptical with this book. (A horror story about bats.) But it was totally convincing. The hero (as typical in Smith books) is reluctant and flawed, but very interesting. The details of Native American life are great, the landscapes are beautifully evoked, and the bats are very interesting. The scene about midway through when the bad guy is remembering a particularly bad trek he and his father made through a cave is unbelievably creepy. Months later, I still remember it and shudder. YOU MUST READ IT!

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste time, move to Renko
Review: Without a doubt, the worst movie I ever had the displeasure of paying to see, Nightwing turns out to be a fine thriller. It's Stephen King by way of Tony Hillerman as plague ridden vampire bats descend on a Hopi reservation.

Replete with a lone hero tribal policeman, corrupt Indian politicians, a mad scientist, bigoted evangelists & a vengeful shaman, this early effort from Martin Cruz Smith does not measure up to the Arkady Renko series, but it's fun.

GRADE: C+

Rating:
Summary: does not measure up to the Arkady Renko series, but it's fun
Review: Without a doubt, the worst movie I ever had the displeasure of paying to see, Nightwing turns out to be a fine thriller. It's Stephen King by way of Tony Hillerman as plague ridden vampire bats descend on a Hopi reservation.

Replete with a lone hero tribal policeman, corrupt Indian politicians, a mad scientist, bigoted evangelists & a vengeful shaman, this early effort from Martin Cruz Smith does not measure up to the Arkady Renko series, but it's fun.

GRADE: C+

Rating:
Summary: Don't waste time, move to Renko
Review: Written 25 years ago, Nightwing has only one of the talents we have come to admire in Martin Cruz Smith. Great research. Apart from that, the hero is not Renko and the story is basically a big yawn. Unless you 're really into that indian thing, move ahead to Gorky Park.