The Sinister Pig

Rating:
Summary: What in the world has happened to Tony Hillerman?
Review: The wonderfulness of Hillerman's Chee/Leaphorn stories has been the richness of their Navaho/Four Corners detail, the sensitivity of his characterizations, and the subtlety of the mysteries he unfolds. Now, suddenly, we have kindergarten plotting, cartoon characters, and, unbelievably, clunky, almost amateurish writing. Even the best of them produce a turkey one in a while, and I guess this is Hillerman's. Let's hope he's back on form next time.

Rating:
Summary: Decorative Indians
Review: It's a little ironic that Hillerman made his reputation as a chronicler of Diné (Navajo) characters and culture, but tends to put other tribes in his novels as local color elements. I was interested to see Tohono O'odham characters in Sinister Pig, but disappointed when it became obvious that Hillerman knows little or nothing about the O'odham. They're not "locals" in the SE Arizona / New Mexico bootheel region any more than Navajo or Hopi are. He has Jim Chee think, "That tribe had its reservation on the Mexican border, lapping over into Arizona". Jeesh! Look at a map, Tony: the Tohono O'odham reservation, about the size of Connecticut, is right smack in Arizona southwest of Tucson. (Lots of O'odham live in Sonora, but not on designated reservation land.)

Minor point? Yes, in terms of the novel overall. No, in terms of Hillerman's reputation as an amabassador of Native culture to a broader readership.

Rating:
Summary: Quite disappointed!
Review: I am a big fan of all mystery and crime novels, so naturally I went out to get this book. I was sadly disappointed, and almost regret my purchase. There wasn't the usual umph I feel from his novels. I do have one spark of good that came out of this. I took the chance on a new author, I bought her book and loved it. It was "Waves of Deceit" by Marlene de Velasco. I would read that one again over this anyday.

Rating:
Summary: What happened to Hillerman?
Review: I'm a big fan of his, and I have to say that this was a BIG letdown. It features: Stilted dialogue, no character development, no suspense, no description of Indian tradition and poor editing.
Avoid at all costs.

Rating:
Summary: is hillerman losing it ?
Review: i wouldn't bother with this one. it is a crashing bore. hillerman has been on a slide the past few years. he has reached bottom.

Rating:
Summary: Not Hillerman's best, but still solid and entertaining.
Review: Tony Hillerman is such an accomplished writer, it's understandable that some reviewers are somewhat disappointed by this effort. Hillerman does an excellent job of presenting details of American Indian culture without resorting to the preachy tone some "politically correct" authors would use, and these details are missed in this novel. This novel also seems to lack some of the plot twists of some of Hillerman's earlier works-it winds up reading more like a straightforward crime story than the mysteries Hillerman has created in the past. These criticisms aside, I enjoyed the novel. It's a quicker read than some of Hillerman's earlier works, yet it still throws in a couple of twists. The characters Hillerman has created are interesting, and it's enjoyable to read another novel involving them. In short, the novel has its faults, but on balance I enjoyed it, and I look forward to reading Hillerman's new novel soon.

Rating:
Summary: good but not great
Review: I've read some of his other books. This one was good...but not his best effort.

Rating:
Summary: His worst in the series.
Review: An interesting plot but all of Hillerman's strengths, careful delineation of place and characters is absent. Any characters from any author could fill the roles. Is someone writing for Hillerman now? I won't pay money for any further novels by this author until his writing improves.

A shame because his early novels are among my favorites.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Disappointing
Review: I normally enjoy Mr. Hillerman's works, and have a collection I like to return to over and over. This one, sadly, went straight into the box to go to the used book store. The editing was so horrible as to be a joke. It makes one wonder if his writing has always been this bad, and some UberEditor has been working magic for all these years, or if he was just under a huge rush to meet contractual obligations and couldn't be bothered to actually write a decent book.

It is also disappointing in that the story could have been exceptional, given a bit of care. This is an important issue to all the tribes, but should be just as important as a history lesson to all Americans as an indicator of just how corrupt the American government was in the past, and remains today.

Next time, I will take a little trip to the library before I automatically add the next Hillerman novel to my collection.