Day of the Dead

By: J. A. Jance

Narrated by: Tim Jerome

The smash New York Times bestselling author continues the chilling tale begun in Kiss of the Bees and Hour of the Hunter with this shocking new tale of knife-edge suspense

The Walker family survived the atrocities perpetrated by a serial killer and his crazed acolyte in both Hour of the Hunter and Kiss of the Bees. But can they escape the vengeance of a new enemy whose target is their precious daughter, Lani?

Told they’re traveling to a loving adoptive family in southern Arizona, young girls are being spirited away from an orphanage deep in Colonial Mexico. But the fate that awaits them is truly horrifying. And when death comes, it will be a blessing.

Former Sheriff Brandon Walker is a reluctant retiree. Golf just can’t replace the action and sense of purpose his job provided. When he’s invited to join The Last Chance Club to review and long-cold unsolved cases, he has no idea that the first case to cross his path will be one he may have botched as a young sheriff. And when the case from all those decades past becomes entangled with a current murder, it seems a serial killer with a very long and shocking track record may be back in business . . .

©2004 J.A. Jance; (P)2004 HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Interesting.

I work for Bureau of Indian Affairs in Phoenix also with the Papago Tribe. Love this book

Disappointed

I eagerly anticipated listening to this book. I like this author's skill in painting pictures with words, development of a good mystery and a suspenseful finish. I found myself annoyed with this work because of excessive use of "political correctness" (white guys bad, Indians good) and the implied assumption throughout the book that only "indigenous" people have connection to the spiritual and mystical. I remind the author that all people are indigenous to somewhere, and that many cultures, including the Celts, have a strong tradition of connection to the mystic as well as embracing medical science. In that same vein, the gratuitous denigration of physicians in the Indian Health Service is a real slap in the face to the thousands of physicians of all ethnic backgrounds who have dedicated years of their lives to providing the best care possible to their patients in a bureaucratic system that often impedes their efforts, rather than enhancing them. I don't see how that was necessary to the development of the story, and am left to conclude that the author is ignorant of the reality of life in the IHS system.
The third thing that annoyed me is the all too common "necessity" to throw in at least one gay or lesbian character, always shown in a positive light, and with commentary on the difficulty of their situation. If I wished to read gay/lesbian literature, there is a whole section devoted to it on the Audible site and in most bookstores; I would know where to find it. However, I picked this novel expecting a nice mystery set in the modern southwest, along the lines of Hillerman's series. Unlike Hillerman, Jance insists on inflicting her political views on the reader, who may find the story less enjoyable thereby. I suggest in the future, if the novel is thus disposed, that it be labeled as political propaganda, so that the unwary reader/listener does not spend hard-earned money supporting literature that annoys him/her.

Very supenseful cold case mystery

I thoroughly enjoyed this; it kept my interest throughout. The characters were all interesting and sympathetic (well except for the 2 psychopaths) with fully drawn back-story, even the relatively minor characters. I like cold case mysteries and this one did a good job continuing into the present day.

The only down side was the prelude to each chapter. It was a continuing native tribal myth/story. I never recognized what it had to to with the novel, but maybe I didn't pay enough attention to the ending. Either way, it was more annoying than useful.

Satisfying Read

I have read some of the Joanna Brady series books by J.A. Jance and although I enjoyed them, I found the characters a little too wooden. Although Day of the Dead seems to be an obvious attempt to recreate Tony Hillerman's works, that is fine with me. Although she uses so many characters it is hard to keep them straight for an audio listener, I thought her characterizations where much better than in previous works and the story seemed tighter. I do get a bit tired however of writers who always have children who are "straight A students," men who are "ruggedly handsome," or women who are so beautuful they put others "to shame." Although we know "who did it" from virtually the begining of the book, the enjoyment in this book is in the pursuit. I hope in her next book, she uses the geography of the southwest to greater effect. Hillerman does a much better job with that.

Good overall story

Half of the listening time was rehashing the same thing from the previous books. If you follow the series it makes it boring before you get to the real story