American fiction writer, Tony Hillerman, creates intrigue and mystery with his 13th novel, “The Fallen Man.” The detective thriller brings Hillerman’s protagonist Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn once more into the foray of murder, this time in the heart of the New Mexico Mountains.
The story revolves around the skeletal remains of a man missing for 11 years suddenly uncovered on a sacred piece of Navajo land deep in the New Mexico mountains, and an old mountain guide found murdered 300 miles away. Recently retired Leaphorn joins forces with the current Lieutenant of the Navajo Tribal Police, Jim Chee, in solving the murders.
Leaphorn and Chee have a history. Chee at one time reported to Leaphorn. The men have been competitors on the force for years and harbor a professional jealousy and resentment towards each other. At first, the new Lieutenant doesn’t have the time to peer into an age-old case that was once under Leaphorn’s jurisdiction. That is until the evidence and circumstances become too overwhelming to ignore. The story unfolds not only as these two attempt to track down the murderer(s), but also how Leaphorn and Chee interface with each other.
Hillerman develops a very descriptive setting in this novel as well. He outlines the beauty of the New Mexico highlands, the copper mountains, the bronze sunsets, the clear mountain streams, and the dry mountain brush, which add a background lush with scenery to the story.
Some say this novel is not Hillerman’s best work. Some say the plot is rather weak and the ending is not as strong as in Hillerman’s previous novels. There are however many twists, turns, and surprises in this tale that will keep the reader absorbed to the very end.
