Brandon Walker 02 - Kiss Of The Bees (v5.0)

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Book DescriptionFrom critically acclaimed master of suspense J. A. Jance, the New York Times bestselling author of Fire and Ice, comes a nerve-shattering tale of rage and retribution, and a nightmare even death cannot end.Twenty years ago, a darkness rose up out of the blistering heat of the Arizona desert and descended upon the Walker family of Tucson. A personified evil, a serial killer named Andrew Carlisle, brought blood and terror into the Walkers' world, nearly murdering Diana Ladd Walker and her young son, Davy. Now much has changed. The family has grown larger. There's Lani, the beloved adopted daughter—a beautiful Native-American teenager "kissed by the bees" and destined, according to Tohono O'odham lore, to become a woman of great spiritual power. And now the psychopath Carlisle has died in prison, so Brandon and Diana Walker believe they and their loved ones are safe at last. They are wrong. The monster is dead, but his malevolence lives on . . . in another. From Publishers WeeklyJance takes time out from her popular series featuring lawyer J.P. Beaumont (Breach of Duty) and Sheriff Joanna Brady (Outlaw Mountain) with this many-layered but overplotted suspense novel, set in the Arizona desert and suffused with the mystery and otherworldliness of Papago Indian folklore. Ex-con Mitch Johnson takes revenge on prize-winning author Diana Ladd Walker and former Tucson sheriff Brandon Walker by abducting their adopted teenage Papago daughter, Lani . (Years earlier, Brandon arrested Mitch for killing two illegal aliens; Diana blinded and maimed Mitch's prison cellmate when he attacked her.) Just as the vicious Apaches were the Papagos' most feared enemies, so the unredeemingly vile Mitch is the Walkers' relentless waking nightmare, prone to torture. As the search for Lani accelerates, the interplay among the large cast of Anglo and Indian characters, bound together by kinship, upbringing and respect or animosity, increases. The baggage they bring to the story and their interlocking relationships could overwhelm a less accomplished writer, but Jance has a sure hand. As she cuts from one set of characters to another, as well as from past to present, she creates a coherent and engrossing novel that uses the dreamlike Papago creation myth to artfully combine magic and reality; each chapter is introduced with a pertinent portion of the legend. Unfortunately, a few clunky clues stand out like beacons and when justice finally prevails, it's tied up in a package whose neatness seems more magical than real. (Jan.)Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalLike the Tohono O'othham figure Kulani O'oks from tribal legend, little Dolores Lanita "Lani" Walker was kissed by the little people--whites would say neglected--and hospitalized for ant bites. Adopted by Tucson writer Diana Ladd and her husband, Brandon Walker, the former Pima County Sheriff, Lani is now a beautiful young teen. Then she is lured and kidnapped by a recently paroled "representative" of Andrew Carlisle, the vicious killer who stalked Diana back in the 1970s and whom she blinded in self-defense (see Jance's Hour of the Hunter). To survive her captor's brutalization and torture, Lani must rely on her instincts and on what she has been taught by Rita Antone, a surrogate grandmother and friend of Diana. Throughout, Tribal Chairman Gabe "Fat Crack" Ortiz's ability to sense Carlisle's evil presence provides leads. The dark tone and graphic violence may turn off all but the most stalwart Jance fans. Recommended with reservations.---Susan A. Zappia, Paradise Valley Community Coll., PhoenixCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.