The Spirit Caller

Rating:
Summary: exciting
Review: I am a German pupil of English in the 13th form who had to read The Spirit Caller in class in 1999. I found the novel easy to read because Hager uses a lot of direct speech and short main clauses which make it easy to understand. The characters are described with a lot of details. Those are helpful to visualize the persons. I believe the novel is exciting, because the reader is hooked by the plot. You get to know almost nothing about Talia Wind's murderer at first. The investigator Molly Bearpaw has got several suspects, but the murderer is only found at the very end. It is interesting, too, that the storyline has got several parts. Molly Bearpaw sees her father for the first time after 25 years plus the unravelling of Wind's gruesome death.

Rating:
Summary: passion and crime among the Cherokees
Review: I believe this novel is very interesting. It contains elements of love, crime, Cherokee culture and a lot of mysterious details. Hager vividly describes the lifestyle and the tradions of the Cherokees. Most of the details taken from culture and geography which are used in the novel are realistically drawn and not ficticious. There are numerous dialogues which help us to understand the characters' motivations. The plot of the story is full of suspense. Until the end you never know who the murderer is. The mysterious element is provided by the ghost in the library. I believe the novel is a good one because it contains so many different topics.

Rating:
Summary: likeable character
Review: I like the novel by Jean Hager. In my opinion it is interesting and realistically written. There are many dialogues so you can really 'see' the different characters and come to conclusions as to how they are. Molly Bearpaw is a likeable character. Hager shows contemporary Cherokee life through Molly's eyes. Due to Hager's knowledge regarding the Cherokeee Nation she pays meticuluous attention to geographic and cultural details. Her novel is full of local colour. Throughout the novel the author shows us Native American traditions and beliefs. Nevertheless, her novel is exciting, too. Until the very end you can never guess who the murderer is. It is like in Agatha Christi's detective novels. Hager knows how to put a good plot together, therefore I think the novel is a good one.