Andrew K. (kuligowskiandrewt) -
Helpful Score: 1
Walt Longmire. Thanks to the television series, more and more people know who Sheriff Longmire is, what he stands for, and who his friends are. Those of us who have followed author Craig Johnson's telling of the tales of fictitious Absaroka County, Wyoming welcome all of the new readers introduced by television. We need to warn you, however, each book has a different tone and flavor.
To me, Hell is Empty is one of the most intense books in the series (with possible exception of The Cold Dish, the first one). It is also perhaps the most mystical once again raising the spectre that The Old Ones who occupied the land long before the White Man arrived continue to watch over and perhaps even dabble in the activities that occur on their former land. (Aside: Being advised that The Three Muskateers was written by some guy named DumbAss provided a very needed slice of levity in this very serious book!)
The plot A federal prisoner exchange occurs in Absaroka County. Walt Longmire is present, as are one of his deputies along with the sheriffs of the two surrounding counties and a few federal agents. Shortly after this group breaks up, there is an escape. Longmire goes into the mountains in pursuit. The weapons possessed by the escaped convicts are but one of the threats he must face high elevation, storms, the local wildlife, and a forest that is so dry that it is almost expecting a wildfire all threaten to make this the final adventure of the Absaroka County sheriff.
The hint of mysticism that serves as an undercurrent through most of the book may be a turn-off to some readers. (Others may believe this doesn't go deep enough, and is interrupted by too much physical and psychological drama. To each their own.) I can't say this was my favorite book in the series, or my least favorite it's too difficult to rank them. I WILL say that I enjoyed reading it (or in my case, listening to George Guidell read it on Audio CD.) And I look forward to the next book in the series.
RATING: 5 stars.
To me, Hell is Empty is one of the most intense books in the series (with possible exception of The Cold Dish, the first one). It is also perhaps the most mystical once again raising the spectre that The Old Ones who occupied the land long before the White Man arrived continue to watch over and perhaps even dabble in the activities that occur on their former land. (Aside: Being advised that The Three Muskateers was written by some guy named DumbAss provided a very needed slice of levity in this very serious book!)
The plot A federal prisoner exchange occurs in Absaroka County. Walt Longmire is present, as are one of his deputies along with the sheriffs of the two surrounding counties and a few federal agents. Shortly after this group breaks up, there is an escape. Longmire goes into the mountains in pursuit. The weapons possessed by the escaped convicts are but one of the threats he must face high elevation, storms, the local wildlife, and a forest that is so dry that it is almost expecting a wildfire all threaten to make this the final adventure of the Absaroka County sheriff.
The hint of mysticism that serves as an undercurrent through most of the book may be a turn-off to some readers. (Others may believe this doesn't go deep enough, and is interrupted by too much physical and psychological drama. To each their own.) I can't say this was my favorite book in the series, or my least favorite it's too difficult to rank them. I WILL say that I enjoyed reading it (or in my case, listening to George Guidell read it on Audio CD.) And I look forward to the next book in the series.
RATING: 5 stars.
I love this series! This is the seventh book and my least favorite. Hell Is Empty lacked some of the clever dialogue and plot depth of the previous books in the series. Also, this book is largely Walt with less interaction with the regular series characters - I think this is part of the problem as well as the underdeveloped plot.
Not my favorite Craig Johnson. But I have like the previous ones, so I'll keep at it.
First Line: "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?"
If the title of this book sounds familiar, it's a partial quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "Hell is empty And all the devils are here." I was in complete agreement with Shakespeare when the book opens with Walt and Deputy Saizarbitoria in a restaurant making sure their prisoners eat their lunches. All three prisoners are murderers, and two of them are way off the crazy chart.
Just as my nerves calmed down due to two of Absaroka County's finest doing everything by the book (and then some), the prisoners are transferred to FBI custody and put into a van with more dangerous prisoners. Walt has to go along because they're still in his jurisdiction. Even though it's May, that means nothing in the high mountains, and there's a humdinger of a snowstorm coming. The way Walt figures it, the FBI and the prisoners will be out of his territory and he'll be back home enjoying dinner with Vic before the storm hits.
Yeah. Right.
The prisoners escape with hostages and head higher into the mountains. While Walt still has a phone that works, he gives his dispatcher orders for his troups, and then he heads out to capture the bad guys. Alone. In a howling snowstorm. Why? In Walt's own words:
"I applied the simple rule that allowed me to make stupid decisions in these types of situations: If I was down there, would I want someone coming after me?
Yep."
When you're a hostage and scared out of your wits, the foremost thing on your mind is COME SAVE ME! See why I'd vote for Walt Longmire?
You do have to wonder if Walt's lost a few marbles, though. The weather is right from the bottom circle of Dante's Hell. He can barely see. It's more than cold enough to freeze bits of him off. The terrain is rugged and not easy to traverse on a sunny summer's day. And he keeps seeing things. If all that weren't bad enough, the craziest escapee of them all keeps playing mind games with him.
Once those prisoners escape, this book grabbed me by the throat and would not let go. Walt's trademark humor is there to help lighten what would otherwise be a very grim plot. Hell Is Empty is very much his show. Everyone else is on the sidelines, fighting the storm in an attempt to break through and help. Johnson builds so much tension that it's almost impossible to put the book down.
One man against the elements. One man to stand up against the bad guys. Walt Longmire is my sheriff of choice. I just wish he'd be able to chase the bad guys in good weather. In a field of flowers. Under sunny skies and a balmy breeze. He's no spring chicken anymore, and I want him to last through many more books to come!
If the title of this book sounds familiar, it's a partial quote from Shakespeare's The Tempest: "Hell is empty And all the devils are here." I was in complete agreement with Shakespeare when the book opens with Walt and Deputy Saizarbitoria in a restaurant making sure their prisoners eat their lunches. All three prisoners are murderers, and two of them are way off the crazy chart.
Just as my nerves calmed down due to two of Absaroka County's finest doing everything by the book (and then some), the prisoners are transferred to FBI custody and put into a van with more dangerous prisoners. Walt has to go along because they're still in his jurisdiction. Even though it's May, that means nothing in the high mountains, and there's a humdinger of a snowstorm coming. The way Walt figures it, the FBI and the prisoners will be out of his territory and he'll be back home enjoying dinner with Vic before the storm hits.
Yeah. Right.
The prisoners escape with hostages and head higher into the mountains. While Walt still has a phone that works, he gives his dispatcher orders for his troups, and then he heads out to capture the bad guys. Alone. In a howling snowstorm. Why? In Walt's own words:
"I applied the simple rule that allowed me to make stupid decisions in these types of situations: If I was down there, would I want someone coming after me?
Yep."
When you're a hostage and scared out of your wits, the foremost thing on your mind is COME SAVE ME! See why I'd vote for Walt Longmire?
You do have to wonder if Walt's lost a few marbles, though. The weather is right from the bottom circle of Dante's Hell. He can barely see. It's more than cold enough to freeze bits of him off. The terrain is rugged and not easy to traverse on a sunny summer's day. And he keeps seeing things. If all that weren't bad enough, the craziest escapee of them all keeps playing mind games with him.
Once those prisoners escape, this book grabbed me by the throat and would not let go. Walt's trademark humor is there to help lighten what would otherwise be a very grim plot. Hell Is Empty is very much his show. Everyone else is on the sidelines, fighting the storm in an attempt to break through and help. Johnson builds so much tension that it's almost impossible to put the book down.
One man against the elements. One man to stand up against the bad guys. Walt Longmire is my sheriff of choice. I just wish he'd be able to chase the bad guys in good weather. In a field of flowers. Under sunny skies and a balmy breeze. He's no spring chicken anymore, and I want him to last through many more books to come!
I've been trying to fill in the gaps by reading the Longmire books that I have missed. I read this one from a library download although I did at one time have a hard copy of it that I must have given away before my move to California. This is the seventh book in the series and was as usual a good page-turner. This one was not so much a mystery as it was a chase novel. Longmire and his deputy, Sancho Saizarbitoria, are transporting some vicious prisoners, including Rynaud Shade, an adopted Crow Indian and a dangerous sociopath. Walt is tasked to escort one of them, along with the FBI and some other county sheriffs and transport personnel to a site where Shade supposedly buried a young Indian boy's body. Walt leaves them once the site has been found but while he is gone, the prisoners escape and kill several of the guards and take a female FBI agent and a security guard as hostage. Of course Walt goes after them into the freezing mountains of the Big Horn. Along the way he encounters the dead boy's grandfather Virgil (as Walt describes him, an FBI - Fuckin' Big Indian) who helps him on his way. He is dressed in a grizzly bear skin and his strength enables him to move an overturned snow cat off of Longmire. He later rescues him from a purposely set forest fire and provides a lot of Indian philosophy along the way.
Walt is pretty out of it for most of the journey. He falls at one point and sustains a concussion -- so how much of his trip is real and what is imagined? As usual, I enjoyed this outing in the Longmire saga. I now need to read Another Man's Moccasins and I will have read everything up to book 9, A Serpent's Tooth. Then I can continue through the rest of the series. Hope to do this soon.
Walt is pretty out of it for most of the journey. He falls at one point and sustains a concussion -- so how much of his trip is real and what is imagined? As usual, I enjoyed this outing in the Longmire saga. I now need to read Another Man's Moccasins and I will have read everything up to book 9, A Serpent's Tooth. Then I can continue through the rest of the series. Hope to do this soon.
This entry has a lot more spirituality and mysticism than any of the previous. And it's darker in tone than the others without being what I'd call "dark"; there is still some of the usual banter but most of the book is taken up with Walt's arduous journey, his internal dialogue, and those who will help him as well as those trying to kill him along the way. Walt's dreams about Owen White Buffalo are terribly sad and his determination to see the hostages - both living and dead - brought home is extraordinary. The descriptions of the blizzard conditions will give you chills while you're reading (actually kind of nice during a Phoenix summer). The conversations with enigmatic but dangerous Virgil White Buffalo are sometimes down to earth and sometimes baffling. Dante's "Inferno" plays a big part in the story and I regretted that I'm not more familiar with it, as I expect there were many allusions that just went past me. Don't expect a straightforward action mystery here; it might start out that way, but in the end you'll be wondering which parts were "real". As Henry Standing Bear says in the end "Just because he was not there does not mean he was not there". And do not miss the reading list at the end, compiled for Saizarbitoria by the folks in Walt's office, who have to be the best-read sheriff's staff in the country.
I thought this was the best of the whole series.
