The Visitant (The Anasazi Mysteries, Book 1)

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Summary: The Visitant by Kathleen and Michael Gear
Review: It was a nice change to read a mystery with over 300 pages. It was a delightful mix of history, archaeology, and mystery. Many of the Gear books are very long and chocked full of interesting history. Being a history teacher it's nice to read authors who provide so many historical facts that I can share with my students. I enjoyed seeing the contemporary archaeologists piecing together the pieces of the puzzle surrounding a serial killer from the past.

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Summary: A Go Nowhere Anasazi Murder Mystery
Review: Never have I expected more, only to get much less than I expected. This book is supposed to be a murder mystery set in the Anasazi times of Chaco Canyon. Instead it becomes a burdening plot (if you can call it a plot), unbelieveable, and then leaves with no conclusion. They just want you to buy the next book so they can continue their boring story. Don't waste your money on this book like I did. If this book is really about the Anasazi, no wonder they disappeared, they were too embarrassed knowing this book would be written about them.

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Summary: Very Disappointing
Review: Save your money and buy a Tony Hillerman book instead. The Visitant is simply unbelievable. If the male Anasazi War Chiefs were that confused, insipid, and wimpy, it is no wonder the Anasazi died out. The book is politically correct, if you value that sort of thing (I don't). However, if you like harmless fantasies about women warriors and powerful clan matrons, you might like it.

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Summary: The Visitant
Review: Scary, scary scary. I stayed up all night just to finish it. I loved it!!!!

Rating:
Summary: The Visitant
Review: Scary, scary scary. I stayed up all night just to finish it. I loved it!!!!

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Summary: Anasazi mystery thriller, coming June 2, 1999!!
Review: Set during the Mesa Verdean reoccupation of Chaco Canyon in the late 1200s, the Visitant comes, and when he leaves, young women are missing. Unlike the "People" prehistory series, we have utilized a split timeline, as modern archaeologists, Dusty Stewart and Maureen Cole, excavate the site of an Anasazi mass murder. Due to demand among national distributors, The VISITANT will be shipped in June of 1999. We hope you enjoy the story!

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Summary: Confused and confusing!
Review: Sorry, but I simply could not penetrate the dense shrouds of Indian mysticism that surrounded this story. At one stage I went and looked on the Web for material on Anazasi religion so I could find out what the hell I was actually reading, but I just couldn't fathom it. First and foremost, I never did work who or what the villain was. That's a real killer (pardon the pun)for a murder mystery. Maybe I'm just plain ignorant, but I think it would have helped if we had a bit more story, a bit more lucid explosition and a bit less arcane ritual. I must emphasize that I'm talking here about the part of the story set in the past, the modern storyline was so irrelevant and pointless it simply became a distraction. I'm disappointed, I had expected so much more, having read and enjoyed these authors' work in the past. The biggest irritant, perhaps, was that the synopsis given on the dust jacket and faithfully reproduced up above, which drew me to read the book in the first place, bore little relation to what actually happened in the book. Needless to say, that deceit did nothing to improve my opinion of the book.

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Summary: Enthralling, suspenseful and entertaining
Review: The author in her knowledge of the Ancients had written a mind gripping novel, weaving factual and fiction making me wanting to know more. Finding myself so enthralled in the characters, I was lost at times feeling and living in those times, as a I moved from page to page, not wanting to put down the book until the hours of the morning.

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Summary: The Best
Review: The Gear's are the best in prehistoric novels that not only give a lot of wonderful and historical information, they also go in depth about the people they are writing about. This was a wonderful book to curl up with. Non-stop action. It goes from present time to past time. Unlike the "People" books, it continues to jump back and forth between the times linking them together. Even though it has a stand alone ending, it still leaves you wanting the next book. (which is just as good!!)

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Summary: The Visitant
Review: The Gears usually write novels and mysteries which are entwined with information from the past. Now they have turned up the details by including both the past and the present. Reading through either era would make a good story, but it was interesting to think about the modern archiologist trying to figure out what was going on too. It seems a few details were left unreconciled in order to connect to a future book. I have read the entire First North Americans series also written by the Gears. These previous books helped to understand some of the spiritual and physical ways of life that these early people use to deal with their environment. I have always loved their books and "The Visitant" is no exception. I enjoyed the connection with their previous series by the references to the people in "the People of the Silence". Even one of the main characters in "The Visistant" is a carry over. The Park Ranger is caught between the need to know, the government, and the sacred beliefs of the native people. I enjoyed the growth of relationships through out the book that hint toward another great series. I did not like the cover reference to Central Park. It made me believe there would be a different set of circumstances in the present. The site is in the southwest dessert, and the present day situations were set more around solving than activating a crime. I would hope a reader would be able to keep their characters straight well enough to know which situation they were reading about. It is quite obvious when you are in the past or in the present. I can hardly wait for their next book.