Pulse en una miniatura para ir a Google Books.
Cargando... Nightwing (1977 original; edición 1996)por Martin Cruz Smith
Información de la obraNightwing por Martin Cruz Smith (1977)
Cargando...
Inscríbete en LibraryThing para averiguar si este libro te gustará. Actualmente no hay Conversaciones sobre este libro. I liked this book a lot when it was first published. But after seeing the movie version, I now find the book to be harsh. Even tge narrator’s voice and presentation were harsh. The main characters seem less complex and less positive than they were shown in the movie. I guess that’s Hollywood marketing! This book introduced me to the author, who has remained one of my favorites over the years. This novel was on the shortlist for the 1978 Edgar. Best known for his series about Arcady Renko, a Russian investigator, Martin Cruz Smith is a gifted novelist with awards and recognition outside his famous series that kicked off with Gorky Park. According to Wikipedia Nightwing was his breakthrough novel. This story set on the Hopi Nation land in Arizona features every bit as much of the stark beauty and native lore of the desert as Tony Hillerman. There is a big creepiness factor with the vampire bat playing a starring role. If you're looking for a solid example of Cruz Smith's writing outside of the Russian milieu, this is not a bad place to start. I am quite a fan of Martin Cruz Smith's more recent books, so I've been working on picking up his older ones as well. This one, however, I'd recommend giving a miss. I recognize that horror often depends on taking ordinary things and making them somehow "spooky," but "Nightwing" engages in fearmongering that could be genuinely harmful to a necessary and helpful population of bats that are in delicate balance if not actively threatened, often by presenting fictional information as though it were scientific fact. The plot has to do with a Native American deputy caught between two worlds. His girlfriend is Caucasian, but his best friend, an old shaman, is disgusted with the modern world, and threatens to do a magic working that will end the world, leaving only the people of his tribe to start again. The deputy, naturally, thinks this is just bluster - but when a bat-spread plague begins spreading to epidemic proportions, doubt sets in. He might be able to do something to stop it - but that would also be a betrayal of his people. The book is reasonably well-written, and (just barely) stays on the right side of the line as far as stereotypes of native Americans - but the portrayals of bats and their behavior patterns are nothing short of libelous. Even though this was written quite some years ago, I believe the author should step up and make a hefty donation to the cause of combating the bat plague - that is, the plague that is seriously wiping out the bat populations of the Northeastern US. sin reseñas | añadir una reseña
Pertenece a las series editorialesUllstein Buch (22748) Contenido enTiene la adaptaciónPremiosListas de sobresalientes
From Martin Cruz Smith, the internationally bestselling author of Gorky Park, comes a reissue of Nightwing, the million-copy bestseller that Stephen King called "one of the best horror novels in the last twenty years." As darkness gathers, the sky is filled with frantic motion and maddening murmurs. In an effort to end the world, an unhappy, aging Native American shaman invokes the Hopi god of death. Those around him remain skeptical, dismissing him as crazy old man. Then they discover his mutilated, bloody body and soon other similarly disfigured bodies begin to appear. Horses, sheep, cattle--no living thing is safe. But what is causing the horrible deaths? Deputy Sheriff Duran is called back to the reservation to investigate. Immediately, Duran recognizes the significance of the shaman's spell and, with the help of two scientists, he works to combat the supernatural scourge--before there's nothing left to save. Written "in the tradition of Stephen King" (Kirkus Reviews), Nightwing is part love triangle, part Native American case study, part supernatural thriller...and "genuinely horrifying" (The Washington Post Book World). No se han encontrado descripciones de biblioteca. |
Debates activosNingunoCubiertas populares
Google Books — Cargando... GénerosSistema Decimal Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Clasificación de la Biblioteca del CongresoValoraciónPromedio:
¿Eres tú?Conviértete en un Autor de LibraryThing. |
It is a very entertaining read in many ways, and while by no means a masterpiece, it held up fairly well. Nightwing is very reminiscent in many ways of Tony Hillerman's Joe Leaphorn/Jim Chee mystery novels. The atmosphere is very similar, in fact, right down to the Four Corners location and the mysticism of the Navajo and Hopi Indians. There is also the same social commentary in regard to the exploitation of the tribes for the resources on Indian lands. Mainly, however, this is an old-fashioned thriller marred to some degree by an okay but certainly not great ending.
Most readers who like Jim Chee will like the Hopi protagonist, Youngman. Most readers who enjoy the Leaphorn/Chee novels will find a great deal to like here, in fact, though it is a switch in genre from the Hillerman series. Perhaps other reviewers who haven't read (or don't like) the Hillerman mysteries, or were expecting another Gorky Park type of work from Cruz were surprised by this earlier work, and it lessened their enjoyment of this old-fashioned, lean and involving story.
Nightwing certainly isn't perfect, but it has many good moments to recommend it. I rounded up to four stars rather than down to three because the atmosphere overcame the conclusion for me. Others have gone into the plot, which you can read in the book description, so I’ll refer you to that on this occasion. If you don't like Hillerman, however, you won't enjoy this, as it has the same feel as that series, but moved sideways into another genre. A good book to curl up with on a stormy night. It won't bore you, it's just not one which will blow you away. ( )