Dance of the Thunder Dogs

Emmet home to recover or retire? Think again. While it is hard to grasp that immediate suspicion should fall on such a respected law enforcement officer, the intrigues make this a page turner like no other. Parker on his own, on home turf that has become unfamiliar to him through his long absence, adds great cultural background, works very well, and makes this probably Mitchell's best book so far. However it would be nice to see Anna back in the future somehow...

In the other books, Emmett Parker was a Comanche far removed from his roots. By his own admission, he had grown apart from his Comanche self. In this book, he comes home, if only to the place of his birth. It takes him quite a while to find who he actually is.... through a lot of self-searching, being a hunted man, and the dreams of an old man. For me, this novel made it possible to relate to Parker in a way I was unable to in the first books. Since I picked up Mitchell's first books about this man, I have been hooked. I also read Hillerman, Thurlo and Coel, but Mitchell's books are the best by far. This book, in my own humble opinion, is his best to date. All action without the romance thrown in. Looking inside Parker's mind as we do here is what makes Mitchell's writings so powerful. Doggone good book!! And Kirk... this book came out in 2004 and it is now 2006. That is 2 years. Write faster...please!!!

This is the first novel I have read by Mr. Mitchell, and I am more than a lttle impressed. You can read plot summaries elsewhere, so I won't bore you with my version. This novel does contain the best descriptions of small-town life in and near Indian reservations I can remember. One example: two Indian protagonists drive along the main street of a town and pass the Teepee Bar; both remember that it once had a sign in the window that said "No Indians Allowed"; funny and accurate at the same time; I grew up a few miles from the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming; there was no official sign outside of the bar of the one new Indian bar in town, but there was a hand-written sign in the window which said "Pollacks Welcome". A bit of Indian humor, although more than a few Native Americans prefer to be called Injuns, more of their subtle humor. I was welcomed until I began winning a little too much at the pool table. This personal diversion aside, Mr. Mitchell's novel is complex, informative and worth staying up with late at night, even though you know that the alarm on your clock will be beeping much too soon. The author has piqued my interest because he has taken the mystery genre into a wonderful place. Read carefully. There are more clues than you can imagine, all carefully placed. Martin Stadius

A previous reviewer wrote that without Anna Turnipseed our protagonist Emmett Parker is nothing. Parker would probably agree, and I missed the steamy love scene that I have no doubt will surface in future installments. However Mitchell is at his very best in this thriller which shows Parker's resourcefulness and depth of character, character he got the hard way from his ancestors and his own struggle to walk the warriors' path. This book grabs you and doesn't let go even on the last page. A heck of a lot of fun.

Dance of the Thunder Dogs is a tangent from the other books in the series, but a satisfying read nonetheless. If there's one thing Mitchell's good at is interweaving complex subplots together (Spirit Sickness,a good example). The turn of events that occur after Jerome's death escalate beautifully to a rich conclusion (Oil Conspiracy, Killer's connections, etc). Some notable moments include the cat and mouse game between Parker and Agent Mengas, and the revealing of various character involvement in the crime. I admit I would have liked to have seen more of Anna (Sky Woman Falling was great), but a novel devoted solely to Parker is still worthwhile.