A Thief of Time

Rating:
Summary: Vastly Entertaining
Review: This is the first Hillerman novel I picked up and it won't be my last. The story centres around the unexplained disappearance of an anthropologist who is suspected of being a 'thief of time' or pot hunter. While Lt. John Leaphorn and Officer Jim Chee look for the missing person, recent dead bodies are discovered at plundered sites. It's up to Leaphorn and Chee to find out who's causing all this destruction before they find another body.

As an anthropology student, I liked Hillerman's detailed research and his obvious respect of the Navajo Nation. As a mystery reader, I liked the police story line and how it fit quite nicely with Hillerman's anthropological angle. Great read and I hope to read more from this exceptional author.

Rating:
Summary: Should please Hillerman fans
Review: This may not be his best work (and I have read them ALL many times over), but it is nonetheless a good one. To me, the pleasure of reading Hillerman's Navajo police books is not so much in the storyline, as in his masterful and atmospheric rendering of the setting, culture, and characters. If one is purely a mystery buff, there are many other authors who may fashion a more intriguing or complicated plot. Very few, however, can capture the essence of place, time and motivation the way Hillerman does, and that is what, for me, makes his books a joy to read.

Rating:
Summary: A so-so read
Review: This was the first Hillerman novel I ever read.How it ever became a best seller amazes me! Fortunately it was the only book I had with me on vacation, or I would never have gotten through it. About halfway through, however, things did improve.

Hillerman does a good job of evoking the flavor of the Southwest and the story is interesting enough. But, I made the mistake of reading this immediately after having read Michael Crichton's "Timeline" which is a much more engaging and entertaining book.

Based on my experience I doubt that I'll read another of Hillerman's works.

Rating:
Summary: Spellbinding!
Review: Time well spent as you are swept away to the southwest! Hillerman takes you down the roads and over the hills so accurately, his novels could be used for road maps!

Rating:
Summary: A story where the past and present meet...
Review: To tell you the truth, I loved this story...actually read the book twice. "A Thief of Time" by Tony Hillerman left me with a craving for more of this writer's work!

The characters are colorful and well-developed, the dialogue crisp and meaningful, and the plot created with a lot of thought, and research. A nicely told story!

John Savoy
Savoy International
Motion Pictures Inc.

Rating:
Summary: A very unique crime series by a master storyteller.
Review: Tony Hillerman has created an extraordinary series with his tales of crime on the Navajo Reservations of New Mexico.

The books are unique for a number of reasons. The first is that there are two main characters, Joe Leaphorn, a senior investigator in the Navajo Police Force, and Jim Chee, the equivalent of a "patrolman" on the force. In some books, both make appearances, in some only on of them is on the scene.

Then there is the fact that Hillerman genuinely knows about both the nature and history of the Navajo Nation, both past and present. This lends an aura of authenticity and credibility to the novels that is consistently present throughout the series.

On top of all that, Hillerman understands and can effectively convey a realistic projection of actual criminal process and procedure.

Finally, Hillerman is able to portray the cultural dissonance that marks life on and around the reservation, both within the tribe as well as with relations of the tribe to the larger community without indulging in any sort of editorializing that would detract from the tale.

This was the first Hillerman novel I read, and while not quite up to the standards of his very best work, it's close. The story revolves around the plundering of Navajo burial treasures and an associated murder.

But, like all the Hillerman novels, it's not the details of the story that count-it's Hillerman's ability to transport us to another world within our world and make us at home there while telling a great story in a realistic and truly believable fashion.

If you have not treated yourself to some of the Navajo Nation series, you are really missing out on a real treat.

Rating:
Summary: Tony Hillerman Magic
Review: Tony Hillerman once again takes us into the world of the Navajo with Chee and the legendary Leaphorn of the Navajo Tribal Police. Having just read "Skinwalkers" for the first time recently this one had big moccasins to fill. Not only did it fill them, but this exciting mystery may just be better. There is atmosphere to spare and Leaphorn and Chee are fleshed out more than usual in this terrific read.

Both Chee and Leaphorn are dealing with personal issues as this one begins. Chee hasn't quite figured out how he feels about Mary leaving him because he could not leave his Navajo way of life behind and move to the city with her. He is smitten with a pretty Navajo attorney named Janet but she's with someone else. Leaphorn meanwhile is on terminal leave and retiring after the unexpected death of his beloved wife Emma. Niether he or Chee can explain his obsession with finding a missing pot hunter named Eleanor Friedman-Bernal. No Navajo would be involved, as stealing pots like this would make one a "Thief of Time" according to Navajo tradition.

Chee's letting a rather large backhoe get stolen right under his nose will have ties to Leaphorn's investigation, and once more Chee will be helping Leaphorn all across the Navajo territory. This one will stretch all the way into Utah and down the San Juan River. Leaphorn will be reminded of young boy's death by drowning before this one wraps up and it will have unexpected ties to his search for Eleanor.

It seems Eleanor was into pots made by the Anasazi, a tribe that simply vanished from the face of the earth. Pictographs and petroglyphs of Kokopelli, the "Watersprinkler", play a part in this mystery. But her interest is also anthropological, and someone thinks what she's discovered is worth killing for. Leaphorn and Chee will be hundreds of miles apart when they reach the same conclusion in this complex mystery. One will have to race to the other as things turn ugly and two very different men will find commom ground when Leaphorn asks the unexpected of young Chee.

Hillerman has written a real gem here and his descriptions of the thousand foot cliffs along the San Juan River at night and a starry sky filled with Navajo mystery will enthrall you. This is a good mystery and a great read. You don't want to miss this one.