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When Lt. Joe Leaphorn of The Navajo Tribal Police discovers a corpse with a mouth full of sand at a crime scene seemingly without tracks or clues, he is ready to suspect a supernatural killer. Blood on the rocks...A body on the high mesa....Leaphorn must stalk the Wolf-Witch along a chilling trail between mysticism and murder.

This one was given to me by a coworker who suggested that I try out the author. She told me that given the books that I like, Hillerman would be up my alley. No offense to her, I disagree. The book was not bad, do not get me wrong, but I will not rush out and read his entire catalogue.

Tony Hillerman writes about a Native American detective. This idea in itself is completely new to me. None of the fiction I enjoy has ever approached this subject before. I will give him credit, his stories are extremely unique. As an experience I can now say that I have had, this book was positive. The reason the Native American perspective was difficult for me was that there were too many metaphors early in the book. The author refers to people and places not by names I would recognize, but by how the Navajo would. This was enlightening to get a glimpse, allbeit a small one, into a new culture, but it was hard to follow. As the action began, the story was easier to keep up with.

A short book, at only 284 pages, The Blessing Way had but 18 chapters (which is fine normally) but Hillerman maybe should have used more. Understand that I do not claim to be an expert in proofreading, nor do I claim to be without fault myself. Maybe it is the writing I am most familiar with, maybe it is something else; I am unsure. The author chooses to switch scenes and time of day by simply starting a new paragraph at times. The story could be in the desert in the middle of the morning in one paragraph and then have a different character asleep in the middle of the night in the next. Some authors will use a chapter break, some may just add an extra return between paragraphs, some will use **** to announce a change. These are all signs that the story will move on and is then often easier to follow.

I do not mean to be too critical of Tony Hillerman. He is a widely celebrated author who has received much praise for his Joe Leaphorn novels. All I am aiming to do is explain what did not sit right with me as I read The Blessing Way. I did not dislike the book, I simply did not like it.

Buy The Blessing Way $6.29

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