Sunday, June 2, 2013

Ghosts of War, Demons of Right Now: robgirlbooks' Review of Another Man's Moccasins by Craig Johnson

Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire # 4)
by Craig Johnson
Published by Penguin Press (5/26/09)
336 pages
Borrowed from the Library
5 STARS!!!

Walt Longmire is sheriff of Wyoming's Absaroka County. It's an election year, but it's always an election year for a sheriff. Demons come back to haunt Walt when a Vietnamese woman is found dead, a body drop, which means he's got himself a cold case from the start. With flashbacks from his days in the Vietnam War and a confounding mystery on his hands, the only thing left to knock him flat on his butt is a befuddling and fumbling romance.

This is my favorite Walt Longmire book yet. I've never read a story with war flashbacks before and I loved the way Johnson wrote those scenes. I've seen so many Vietnam War movies, I don't know why. And I felt like I was sweating right there along side Walt. The best aspect of the flashbacks is that they were a surprising glint into Walt's inner workings. We've seen glimpses of his temper. We've seen moments of a cold heart when the crime called for it. But we've never seen a dumb, hardheaded, short tempered Walt. I loved it! And they really didn't add to the mystery by way of answering any questions. The mystery itself pissed me off. I couldn't guess. Oh, I was suspicious, but I was just as dazed as Walt. Johnson is that good! I will say that there wasn't as much humor in this one as the previous books. I think because the self-reflections took him straight to a war time memory. One of my favorite things about Walt is his take on the world. We didn't get that as much because his take was turned upside down with the dead girl uprooting too many memories. And still I loved this book so much. I'll read it again. I wish I owned it.

8 comments:

  1. Great review, Robyn. :) I'm yet to get my hand on the first book in the Walt Longmire series. I wish we had good, functioning libraries over here; I'd be spending quality time there.

    I'm glad you're enjoying the series. Thanks for sharing. :)

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    1. I never gave our library system here much thought because I figured it was like the ones I grew up with, stuffy and filled with pissy people. I should have realized my belief was based on the perspective of a talkative kid who had no ability to whisper. I wish you had a good library over there too! This is a series I'd like to own. And there's always death involved, just your thing (Athina's too!-you guys).

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    2. Haha! I hate death, but I like seeing it in 'fiction' LOL. :)

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    3. I know! I remember your Chricton review "lots of deaths" or some such. During my divorce the men dropped like a plague hit my stories. It's pretty cathartic.

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  2. Is this a non-ficiton or a fiction? It seems really interesting, and I really might enjoy this. I think I'll add this to my might-read-pile, just because your review made me want to :)

    Happy reading Robyn :)

    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

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    1. Hi Lexxie! The Longmire series is mystery fiction. Cold Dish is the first book and I laughed from the start. Johnson also makes me cry though. It's now a TV show called Longmire on A&E (on it's second season). I love both even though the show follows it's own script (in the same fashion as True Blood).
      Happy reading, right back!

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    2. I guess this means I'll be adding more books to my TBR :) You made me want to read this!

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    3. Hehe! Guess who has her own copy of Switching?

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