The Sinister Pig

The Sinister Pig, Tony Hillerman's 16th novel to feature Navajo cops Joe Leaphorn and/or Jim Chee, isn't his best book, but it's still a pleasure from the first page to the last. Its plot is almost too complex to summarise, involving the mysterious shooting of an ex-CIA agent, financial shenanigans around oil and gas royalties, disappearing congressional interns, exotic pipeline technology, and the cross-border trade in both drugs and illegal aliens.

Officer Bernadette Manuelito has left the Navajo Tribal Police for the US Customs Service, patrolling the barren borderlands of southern New Mexico. There, her curiosity lands her in a growing peril that provides much of the book's suspense--and invokes the protective instincts of Sergeant Chee, who still hasn't quite been able to tell her how he feels about her.

It's impossible not to care about Hillerman's exquisitely drawn repertory characters, nor to overlook the pleasures of his beautifully crafted and relaxed-seeming prose. In the midst of these virtues are a few warts: several sections are a little flat or awkward, and the villainous plutocrat behind it all is short on plausibility (though lots of fun to hate). But even a lesser Hillerman is still a richer, more satisfying read than most authors' top stuff. --Nicholas H Allison, Amazon.com

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This little piggy went to market - Rated
Not quite the Hillerman formula but done well just the same. All our old friends are in this story and it looks like everything can get wrapped up if Hillerman decided would be his last. However it looks like there is at least one more novel and probably two. In this novel we get to be into the heads of the good guys and bad guys from the start as they banter around.

An ex-CIA spy with knowledge of the oil industry is sent to find out information on how oil companies bypass paying royalty money to the First Nations Trust Fund. He ends up committing suicide with a bullet in the back. Mean while way down south Bernie now with the U.S. Customs Service gets lost, goes off the map, and puts her foot in it.

Bernie's co-worker gets suspicious and tells Joe. Jim gets out some snaps; Joe gets out his maps; Bourbonette gets out the coffee and brains. They hold a committee to figure out what is happening.

Will Bernie smell what she stepped in, or just walk right in to her demise?
Will the cavalry arrive over the hill in time (does not look promising?)
Who or what is the "Sinister Pig?"

Bernie Manuelito Tangles with a Corrupt Power Broker - Rated
The Sinister Pig is one of Tony Hillerman's deftest plots and best designed stories. Be careful not to read reviews that tell too much of the plot, or much of the book's pleasure will be needlessly spoiled for you. Some will not like this story as much as previous ones because it moves into new ground, both geographically and story-telling-wise. Having that reaction is like failing to appreciate the latest model of Ferrari while being totally fixated on the 1950s versions. Be open to the evolution of Mr. Hillerman's skill and the potential of his characters.

Because this book relies so much on past character development to establish its story, it would be a major mistake to make this the first book you read in the series. If you start with this book, the big mystery will be finding out who all of the people are and why the story involves them. I think this is one of those series where you really should start at the beginning and work on from there.

This story is told from the perspective of several different characters, none of whom know everything that is going on. As the reader, you are privy to more of their thoughts and knowledge than any of them have which helps you anticipate what will happen next. Yet, until near the end, the ultimate meanings of the book's title will be hidden from you. It's a nice job of misdirection and a gradual, tasty unpeeling of the story grape.

Neither Jim Chee nor Joe Leaphorn are the center of this story, although they play major roles. This is Bernie Manuelito's story although she doesn't appear in the book's opening. She has left some of her frustrations with Jim Chee and the Navajo Tribal Police to join the U.S. Customs Border Patrol near the border of Arizona and New Mexico. This takes her 200 miles from the reservation, and she's lonely despite making friends there. She alternates pining for Jim and being annoyed by his seeming aloofness in letters. He misses her desperately, but cannot bring himself to do anything about it. Bernie finds her new job emotionally and physically challenging because it involves both stopping illegal immigrants who may be in trouble after being abandoned by the coyote guides who lead them and dangerous drug smugglers who will stop at nothing to get their valuable, illegal cargoes through.

In the background to the story are a mysterious investigation of misappropriation of billions in royalties due to Tribal Trust Funds from oil and gas sales, an unexplained death which the FBI hushes up, a Washington power broker who desperately wants the war on drugs to continue, former CIA agents and operatives, blackmail, a missing mistress, an exotic game ranch, an investigative reporter, and unexplained construction in the middle of nowhere.

The book's only flaw is that the villain is portrayed in terms that are a little too extreme to be credible. He's more like a James Bond foe than a Tony Hillerman criminal.

The overall theme of this book is about how our misperceptions of what is going on are likely to lead us astray. These misperceptions may be based on differences in language and culture, knowing only parts of the facts, having facts be withheld from us, or by assuming what others tell us is true when it is not. Mr. Hillerman does a masterful job of portraying all of these problems, and showing that it is important that we act on our desire to know more . . . rather than being satisfied with what appears to be going on at the surface. Better solutions are at hand, if only we grasp them.

After you finish this fine book, I suggest that you think about where you may be misperceiving the potential around you. How can you test the accuracy and completeness of those perceptions where it's important?

Once again Jim Chee is on the Case - Rated
Jim Chee has a dead body on his hands, one with no ID, wearing expensiveclothes and with empty pockets. If things weren't already complicatedenough, the situation worsens when the FBI decides the Navajo TribalPolice aren't able deal with the situation and take over the case. Cheeknows that something is rotten in Denmark, and he's not about to let thecase go until he finds out who the dead man is and why he was killed.
What he doesn't know is that when alive, the body belonged to a CIA agentsent undercover to the New Mexico portion of the Four Corners to find outhow the oil pipeline system is being used to bypass paying royalty moneyto the First Nations trust fund. The CIA agent suspected there was more tothe job than he was told, but he took it job anyway, which turned out tobe a bad idea, because it got him killed.
Mr. Hillerman has once delivered a wonderfully complex story that had mereading from cover to cover in one sitting. In this one we see several lawenforcement agencies who don't trust each other, we see determined cops,corrupt politicians, men with questionable pasts and we get Lieutenant JoeLeaphorn, always a favorite. Plus we get a bit of romance as Jim Chee andformer colleague Bernadette Manuelito attempt to come to terms with theirrelationship in this book that I liked very much.
Sophie Cacique Gaul

Hillerman brings home the bacon! - Rated
Tony Hillerman plus Jim Chee times Joe Leaphorn equals (always) an exciting read. In "The Sinister Pig," Hillerman once again takes his two most famous characters on another "outing."

This time, Hillerman takes us off the Navajo Reservation to move down to the Mexican border to investigate an unusual "suicide." An unidentified man is found murdered yet in only a few days, the FBI (and others) become most interested. This arouses the suspicions of Chee and Leaphorn (who are never ones to trust Big Government "investigations") and before long, we find this "casual shooting death" becomes a many-headed monster, involving the illegal drug trade, smuggling of undocumented aliens across the border, and a massive cover-up of an oil royalty scam dating back into the last century.

As always, Hillerman's notice of detail, his command of the storyline, his inimitable characters, and his absorbing outcomes make "The Sinister Pig" a fast-paced read.

Hillerman's 'Pig' is another champion! - Rated
In "The Sinister Pig," Tony Hillerman tackles more universal concerns. His Navajo Reservation gang is up to its elbows in trying to solve yet another homicide. This time, it's a mysterious agent whose death extends clues in numerous directions, not the least to the very center of America itself, Washington D.C.

Hillerman's action takes place almost entirely off the Reservation. The complicated web he has woven involves primarily the drug trade, massive fraud by oil and gas organizations, and the smuggling of illegal aliens across the Mexican border. Hillerman has chosen to take his socially significant themes to a much broader horizon and readers may feel they're reading from a daily newspaper (lately described as "America's newest fiction form!") editorial page. Still, the issues he present couldn't be more relevant.

Granted, he takes care of his established characters. The Legendary Joe Leaphorn contributes heavily and Jim Chee faces a complicated and complex set of personal struggles: his relationship with Bernie, his responsibility to his native culture, and his loyalty to his job. Hillerman has no problem with any of this, yet "The Sinister Pig" seems to move at a pace unusually fast for the author. This book seems to concentrate on action rather than devote much time to personal philosophy and Navajo culture. Nonetheless, Hillerman has another winner.