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DEATH WALKER
by Aimee and David Thurlo
Forge, March 2003
380 pages
$14.95
ISBN: 0765306514


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Call it a clash of cultures.

Ella Clah was born on the Navajo reservation and knew first-hand about the strong beliefs she would find there. The almost supernatural powers of the feared skinwalkers, and the tribe's religious and cultural wisdom combine to hold its members in a tight grip which many find is almost impossible to shake free from.

Clah, now FBI-trained, returns home to serve as a special investigator for the tribal police and finds she must walk a tight line between her modern forensic science training and the traditional beliefs of the Navajo so she won't alienate the very people she is trying protect.

When members of the tribe's "Living Treasures," esteemed for their knowledge of the religion and the culture of the Navajo, become targets of a murderous assailant, or assailants, Clah and her cousin, Justine Goodluck, must sort through evidence which seems to indicate the killer is trying to mislead people into believing a skinwalker (a Navajo witch) is responsible for the deaths. To make matters worse, Clah has to contend with the belief that their traditional "old ways" will protect tribe members from a very modern killer; and in many cases, Clah finds a resentful attitude that it is she and her family which has reawakened the wrath of the skinwalkers.

As the death toll mounts, Clah and Justine become convinced that it is the unthinking fear and beliefs of the skinwalker and the traditional Navajo culture that the killer wants to eradicate. As if the serial killings weren't enough to contend with, a brilliant but murderous former tribal policeman escapes from prison, intent on finding and killing Clah.

As with Tony Hillerman's writing, the Navajo culture is always a major player in this series, augmented by the isolation of reservation life in the American Southwest. The Thurlo husband and wife writing duo has produced eight Ella Clah mysteries, with the latest, Tracking Bear, due for release this April. Death Walker is the second in the series, and this trade paperback is a reissue.

Reviewed by Gary Svoboda, March 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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