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SEASON'S REVENGE
by Henry Kisor
Forge, October 2003
224 pages
$19.95
ISBN: 0765306662


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Henry Kisor is best known as the Book Review Editor of the Chicago Sun-Times. This is his first novel and it's a winner.

Steve Martinez has a complicated past. Born a Lakota Sioux, he was adopted by white missionaries and raised so far away from the reservation that the only things he knows about Indians he's learned from books. When his high school sweetheart dumped him while he was serving in the Middle East, Steve decided to leave New York State and make a new start in Porcupine County, Michigan.

When Steve is sent to investigate the death of the wealthy and influential Paul Passoja, the official ruling of accidental death doesn't ring true to him. Passoja was an accomplished outdoorsman and unlikely to make the mistake that resulted in his death. 

The book follows Steve as he begins his own unofficial investigation, but this book is no thriller. Instead of interviewing and dismissing suspects in rapid succession, Kisor allows the story to unfold at an almost leisurely pace. By the end of the book the reader has learned quite a lot about the history of the Finnish settlers in the Upper Peninsula, a little bit about bear behavior, and has watched a budding romance blossom into a full and equal partnership. Through all this pleasant interpolation Kisor makes sure that mystery is not sacrificed to the information. Quite a feat for a first novel.

There are a few glitches along the way, in particular a very unnecessary coincidence at the conclusion that serves no useful purpose to the plot and left this reader shaking her head. But the sweet beauty of the rest of the book more than made up for one jarring moment.

Kisor has crafted a compelling mystery, braiding many strands of plot into a satisfying story. Let's hope Kisor plans to give us more of Martinez's adventures.

Reviewed by Carroll Johnson, November 2003

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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