Shaman Pass (Nathan Active Series #2)

by Stan Jones

Overview

“In a robust sequel to White Sky, Black Ice, this Alaska state trooper is still burdened by his urban upbringing and his aversion to ice and snow . . . Active maintains his awe of the vast Alaskan tundra, a forbidding region that Jones renders in all its bone-chilling beauty.” —The New York Times Book Review

State Trooper Nathan Active was born in the Inupiat village of Chukchi, where he is now stationed, but he was adopted and raised in Anchorage. Now he must investigate the murder of a tribal leader who was stabbed to death with an antique harpoon that was recently returned to the community under the Indian Graves Act.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781569477380
Publisher:	Soho Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/01/2005
Series:	Nathan Active Series , #2
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	317,286
File size:	818 KB

About the Author

Stan Jones is a native of Alaska. He has worked as an award-winning journalist and a bush pilot. He is the author of three previous mysteries in the acclaimed Nathan Active series, including White Sky, Black Ice.

Editorial Reviews

Even as he struggles to understand the quirky ways of modern Eskimos and comes to respect ''the cheerful fatalism with which the Inupiat seemed to arm themselves against the perplexities of life,'' Active maintains his awe of the vast Alaskan tundra, a forbidding region that Jones renders in all its bone-chilling beauty. — Marilyn Stasio

The New York Times

In Jones's stirring, often moving second mystery (after 1999's White Sky, Black Ice), set in Northwest Alaska, trooper Nathan Active must solve the theft of a sacred Inupiat mummy. Well-meaning "naluaqmiut" (white men) at the Smithsonian have sent mummified "Uncle Frosty" to a museum, only to have the body stolen by villagers wishing to respect traditional native funeral customs. When a tribal elder turns up impaled on the mummy's harpoon at his lonely ice-fishing outpost, an extensive investigation follows across a vast barren area. Active tracks down a fascinating series of suspects living in isolated hunting and whaling camps and in squalid igloos, each with an intriguing story to tell. Active soon finds himself caught in a struggle between the fearsome power of "Shamans" (pagan devil doctors) and the legacy of Natchiq, a murdered prophet and social reformer. In time, the trooper and the reader achieve a deeper level of understanding of bygone traditions in a remote society where snowmobiles are replacing dogsleds and young children crave Pok mon cards. Jones skillfully depicts the beauty and desolation of the "treeless tundra" in winter as well as the hardships of survival in one of the world's most hostile climates. In the compelling ending, Active and his posse fly to a remote mountain pass to hunt for Uncle Frosty and his abductor. A handy Inupiat glossary and background history are included. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Shaman Pass

“In a robust sequel to White Sky, Black Ice, this Alaska state trooper is still burdened by his urban upbringing and his aversion to ice and snow . . . Active maintains his awe of the vast Alaskan tundra, a forbidding region that Jones renders in all its bone-chilling beauty.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Jones captures in precise detail . . . the starkly individual spirit of this village’s collection of characters . . . His depiction of a freezing world of tar-paper houses and whaling camps is absolutely convincing . . . The effect is one of wry immersion in a mildly cantankerous society whose members are eccentric only in comparison to ‘the outside.’”
—Houston Chronicle

“Solid police work in a cold climate.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“Stirring . . . Jones skillfully depicts the beauty and desolation of the ‘treeless tundra’ in winter as well as the hardships of survival in one of the world’s harshest climates.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Jones creates a stunning authentic sense of Alaskan history and of culture still in the throes of change.”
—Booklist

From the Publisher