The Purification Ceremony

Rating:
Summary: Who is this guy?
Review: I always get suspicious when white people try to write books about Indian characters. It hits home even more when the charcaters are Mi'kmaq (I note that this fact seems to have escaped many of the people that reviewed this book -- they refer to the main character as an "Indian" or "Native American" and never refer to her by her actual nation -- as if all aboriginal peoples of North and South America are the same). While I admire the fact that he did some research into Mi'kmaw spirituality (he seems to sort of understand the moral ambiguity of killing, which is a start), and actually uses some mi'kmaw words, I get the impression that he never spoke to any Mi'kmaq people and relied on books written by other white people to enter into the Mi'kmaw world. I also think that he uses the Mi'kmaq as a convienent tribe in which to place his main character -- he obviously wanted a story that had an Indian woman as a main character, and for some reason made her Mi'kmaw -- perhaps because outside of the Northeast and Maritime Canada no one has heard of them. This shows little regard for the nation, as he takes his character out of the context of the Northeast, thereby revealing his ignorance of contemporary Mi'kmaq culture and the geography of our homeland.
As for his villain, I get the impression that Sullivan has read too much of a certain author that wrote about a Yaqui medicine man who introduced a white dude to 'shrooms and peyote. I wonder if Sullivan himself has ever participated in a peyote ceremony. He's probably used it as a drug to get hallucinations, which is not the same at all and an abuse of a powerful plant.

The storyline itself isn't all that bad, nor particularly good, although it is entertaining, if one likes gory quasi-mystical adventures involving Indians (or Native Americans to you PC folks).

Rating:
Summary: Who is this guy?
Review: I always get suspicious when white people try to write books about Indian characters. It hits home even more when the charcaters are Mi'kmaq (I note that this fact seems to have escaped many of the people that reviewed this book -- they refer to the main character as an "Indian" or "Native American" and never refer to her by her actual nation -- as if all aboriginal peoples of North and South America are the same). While I admire the fact that he did some research into Mi'kmaw spirituality (he seems to sort of understand the moral ambiguity of killing, which is a start), and actually uses some mi'kmaw words, I get the impression that he never spoke to any Mi'kmaq people and relied on books written by other white people to enter into the Mi'kmaw world. I also think that he uses the Mi'kmaq as a convienent tribe in which to place his main character -- he obviously wanted a story that had an Indian woman as a main character, and for some reason made her Mi'kmaw -- perhaps because outside of the Northeast and Maritime Canada no one has heard of them. This shows little regard for the nation, as he takes his character out of the context of the Northeast, thereby revealing his ignorance of contemporary Mi'kmaq culture and the geography of our homeland.
As for his villain, I get the impression that Sullivan has read too much of a certain author that wrote about a Yaqui medicine man who introduced a white dude to 'shrooms and peyote. I wonder if Sullivan himself has ever participated in a peyote ceremony. He's probably used it as a drug to get hallucinations, which is not the same at all and an abuse of a powerful plant.

The storyline itself isn't all that bad, nor particularly good, although it is entertaining, if one likes gory quasi-mystical adventures involving Indians (or Native Americans to you PC folks).

Rating:
Summary: Different and very good thriller
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. READ IT! Recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A True Thriller!
Review: I picked this book up because it had a great cover (hard cover). I bought it because it sounded interesting and fun. You know what I was right. This is a wonderful book. I do not feel that this is a "guy" book. The main character is female, just different from most females. Diana is a strong and powerful female lead. The kind that you have to have in a book like this to make it work. I think that Mr. Sullivan did a great job in working out the plot. I was totally engrossed in this fine piece of work from the beginning. OK the author did mess up with the scalp thing. But some times that is a part of the fun. Finding a mistake that everyone missed and they get paid the big bucks! (No pun intended.) This did not take away from the story and was not important to the plot. So you are forgiven Mr. Sullivan for one little bitty mistake. I'm looking forward to more by this wonderful author. Keep them coming, Mr. Sullivan. I highly recommend "The Purification Ceremony.

Rating:
Summary: A Fast Action Pcaked Read
Review: I picked up this book on a whim, and I'm glad I did. This is a fast, engrossing read. The mystery was fairly easy to figure out early on, but it was interesting to see the characters process the clues and find the answers. A very strong female main character didn't overwhelm the story but pulled it all together. A fair amount of violence is involved, so if that bothers you, you might want to skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: A Fast Action-Packed Read
Review: I picked up this book on a whim, and I'm glad I did. This is a fast, engrossing read. The mystery was fairly easy to figure out early on, but it was interesting to see the characters process the clues and find the answers. A very strong female main character didn't overwhelm the story but pulled it all together. A fair amount of violence is involved, so if that bothers you, you might want to skip this one.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific; entertaining to the end; would be great movie
Review: I read dozens of books each year; this would be in the top 5

Rating:
Summary: Try, try again
Review: I read this book simply because it is nearly impossible to find solid novels centered upon hunting. It has always intrigued me that though millions of Americans hunt, very little quality fiction embraces the subject. Reasons? I don't think it has anything to do with the media stereotype of hunters as illiterate rubes, because well-studied statistics generated for marketing purposes demonstrate that most avid hunters have degrees beyond highschool diplomas. Rather, I believe that hunting is an exceedingly difficult topic to realistically render into good fiction. Anyone who hunts, as does the author Mark Sullivan, knows that the hunt is a visceral experience. Those of us who hunt, whether we admit it or not, have chosen to unroof instincts that, while at the very core of human existence, lay utterly dormant in most modern folk. There is precious little writing after which a hunter/author can model his or her work. If this book seems to beat the old hunter-as-psychopath-man-as-most-dangerous-predator/prey bit to death for the umteenth time, it's likely because that's the only well-established formula out there. I think Mr. Sullivan's characters seem a bit wooden, and the scenes a bit disjointed and clumsy, precisely because he is struggling to break free of this tired storyline. I hope he tries again, because he's really onto something.

Rating:
Summary: A 20th Century thriller!
Review: Mark T. Sullivan is a brilliant author!

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!!!
Review: This book completely blew me away, it was so brilliantly written. The author is a master of suspense, and his method for intertwining the main character's tender past with the murder plot was extremely compelling. I'm a voracious reader and read across all genres -- romance, mystery, suspense, fantasy and science fiction -- and I have to say this is the most remarkable example of the thriller genre that I've read in years. Plus the bonus of Mark's talent for creating vivid imagery is unsurpassed.

It's difficult to find any book worth reading these days, and I usually toss them aside after the first five or six chapters (if I even get that far). But Mark is a step above the average author. He's now one of the few authors on my "must buy!" list. I highly, highly recommend this novel!