Book Review: Shaman Pass

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Shaman Pass     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Stan Jones
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Nathan Active
Soho, 2003, $22.00, 274 pp.

Adhering to the Indian Graves Act, the Smithsonian naluaqmiut (means more than one white man) send home the mummy "Uncle Frosty" to Alaska. Once in the northern state, villagers respecting centuries of tradition steal the body. However, not long afterward at a sheefish camp on the ice of Chukchi Bay, Inupiat tribal elder Victor Soloman is found bludgeoned to death by Frosty’s harpoon.

Born in the village of Chukchi though raised in Anchorage, State Trooper Nathan Active investigates the murder. He quickly finds a herd of suspects with motives and opportunities. Nathan receives help (some unwanted) from his girlfriend and his native mother while struggling to learn and understand the matriarchal side of his heritage. Meanwhile his inquiries place Nathan in the dangerous middle of a deadly tug of war between the angatquq shamen and the followers of a murdered social reformer considered by many to be a prophet.

The police procedural aspects are strong and exciting, but serve as a method to enable the audience to receive a deep understanding of a people in which modern technology encroaches faster than snowmobiles drive the vast frozen tundra. Stan Jones provides a vivid picaresque scenario of surviving and residing in what would seem like a frozen wasteland, but is stark, beautiful, and more (at least as described by this author. Obviously fans of Alaskan mysteries will enjoy SHAMAN PASS, but so will anyone who appreciates an impressive who- done-it.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner