Tracking Bear

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly The suspense never lets up in the Thurlos' eighth mystery to feature Navajo Special Investigator Ella Clah (after 2002's Changing Woman), which opens with the murder of a police officer whose backup call is unanswered because of the defective equipment of the pathetically underfunded Tribal Police. Funding issues for the department and the tribe as a whole have the community divided about allowing uranium mining on the reservation. While one group touts the positive financial benefits, opposing forces remind the tribe of earlier mining efforts that poisoned their people and their land. As vandalism, threats and more dead bodies pile up, Ella works frantically to find the source of the crime spree. When she learns that the dead officer's father once worked with the highly classified government experiments at Los Alamos, the fog begins to clear and the stakes become terrifyingly high. The Thurlos weave in a lot of personal background, insights and conflicts for both Ella and her family. Adding further tension is Ella's commanding officer's insistence that her team complete a training course headed by an Anglo woman who seems willing to stop at nothing to make Ella look bad. Toss in Ella's traditionalist mother and brother, sinister skinwalkers and a handful of political bribe-takers, and you have another surefire winner in a durable series. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

From School Library Journal Adult/High School-When a young police officer's death comes under investigation, Navajo Special Investigator Ella Clah finds that faulty equipment played a major role in his demise. The underfunded Tribal Police can't update or repair anything due to the same financial problems beleaguering the entire tribe. Looking for funds, the tribe begins seriously researching a plan to build, own, and operate a new type of nuclear plant, but the fear of uranium mining divides people. After other deaths occur, links form between the murders and the mining issue. Cultural differences between the traditional and modern Navajo way of life show up in every description, from details of daily life to the science of forensics and uranium mining. Ella and her family serve as major examples of this cultural push and pull. An ex-FBI agent, she finds herself using sophisticated forensics to help solve the murders while realizing that she still seeks the Navajo Path to Walk in Beauty. With almost nonstop action and plenty of complications, this eighth Ella Clah title offers yet another skillfully mixed and expertly designed story. Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.