Sunday, February 21, 2010

"A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron." Horace Mann


Four white high school students lure a female American Indian to a meeting and rape her in a cruel and brutal manner. The woman, Melissa Little Bird, suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome and her reasoning powers are impaired.
The trial ends with a ridiculous sentence of two years suspended and then parole. The Indian community is incensed that they boys are let off so lightly.
Two years later, the ring leader is found dead. The town and sheriff Walt Longmere are attempting to make sense of it and then another of the boys is killed in the same manner. Now Walt knows he's dealing with a revenge killing and wondering why the killer waited two years before acting. Walt also wonders if he can protect the other two boys who were involved.
We follow the story with interesting characters and crisp dialogue. It is an interesting start but the characters didn't ring true. This lessened my belief in the story. In particular, Walt is a grossly overweight boozhound living in a home he began building years ago but when his wife died, he stopped building. The home doesn't even have a door on the bathroom. In addition, since Walt is a Viet Nam vet, he has to be in his sixties. With all of this background, his friend Henry Standing Bear is trying to fix him up and encourage him to begin dating, we also learn that there are other women in town interested in Walt as a partner. I don't see the attraction, the descriptions of Walt would seem to turn women completely off.
The conclusion is long in coming and when id does, the actions of one of the central characters were directly opposite to the personality and description of that character up to that point.
All in all, there were many well done scenes and I can see this writer having success in the future.

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