Each book in this series is complete in and of itself but taken together they become one long story, crafted so well that even though I’m going through the series backward, I’m neither confused about backstory nor being drowned in it. Stabenow delivers the right amount.

 

The land, the climate and the culture are essential to the plot. It couldn’t take place anywhere else but in this park in Alaska, with its mix of Native people, homesteaders, and outsiders. The crimes’ impact is broad and painful, affecting a community. The characters are real, whole, complex and original and their relationships make me care what happens and balance the starkness of the crimes with humor and warmth. The mystery is more than a puzzle to be solved.

 

Stabenow’s use of an omniscient point of view rather than exclusively close third person reminds me of James D. Doss, though there is little resemblance between his work and Stabenow’s aside from this, and the fact that the protagonist is Native American. Omniscience is difficult technique to handle well, but Stabenow succeeds.

 

A good book to read in the middle of summer. Escape to the far north and winter.

 

 

 

The last Kate Shugak book, "A Deeper Sleep" ended on an ominous note: the Aunties, the real source of all tribal authority in the Park had overstepped themselves in their response to a set of murders, endorsing vigilante "justice" and leaving themselves open to blackmail.

 

In "Whisper To The Blood" we see some of the consequences of the Aunties' actions: people taking the law into their own hands, Kate being excluded from her normal "enforcer" role by the Aunties, resulting in more vigilante actions.

 

This disturbance of the equilibrium of the Park as the influence of the Auntie's changes from something positive, if a little stern, into something increasingly toxic and outside of their control, is well thought through and well described. It made the Park more real to me.

 

It also showed me the balance that Kate Shugak always brings to her actions. Kate isn't motivated by power or a need to be in control. She doesn't give way to the outrage she sometimes feels. Without having to think through why, when she acts to limit harm or protect the weak, she does so with a calm fury guided by her sense of what is right. That's what makes her respected and feared. It's also what prevents her from understanding fully the power that she has.

 

"Whisper To The Blood" is packed with great scenes: a snow machine trip to remote landscapes, an attack on the river, and an encounter between Kate and a proud old man living alone in the Bush whom she deals with with a dignity, compassion and anonymity that encapsulates her values.

 

I enjoyed the political scenes in the book. It was fun to see the normally effortlessly competent Kate, lack the skills and knowledge to discharge her new role as Chair of the Native Association. It was even more fun to see her master it and turn the tables on the people who had been trying to make her into a clone replacement for her Grandmother.

There is one very uncomfortable scene, which would normally have been enough to make me put the book aside. Jim and Kate are fighting. Jim decides to resolve the conflict and release his frustration by having sex with Kate. Kate says "no." Repeatedly. Loudly. With her fists. Jim doesn't stop. I kept expecting that he would. Or that Kate would make him. After all, we're talking about Kate Shugak here. But Jim doesn't stop and Kate doesn't make him.

 

Jim's reason for deciding that "No" means "Yes"was that Kate switched off the stove as Jim approached her. This, according to Jim, was implicit consent.

The most surprising thing is that, the next morning, and apparently for some hours before that, Kate agreed with him.

 

I wasn't sure what to make of this. In a way it was an extension of the relationship that the two of them have built: part inextinguishable desire, part refusal by either of them to give an inch and part a hope for something more and different. In another way it felt like the violation it appeared to be. An insane mix of anger and lust seems to have ensnared them both. I couldn't make up my mind if they' d both found release of if they'd both just broken something fragile and important.

 

Perhaps life is like that. Perhaps the fact that I can't decide is a tribute to Dana Stabenow's writing. Even so, this knocked me off-centre in a way that I didn't enjoy.

 

"Whisper to the Blood" is still a good read, with a mystery at its core, Alaska as it stage, and a cast of well-rounded characters giving a first-class ensemble performance.

 

The last Kate Shugak book, "A Deeper Sleep" ended on an ominous note: the Aunties, the real source of all tribal authority in the Park had overstepped themselves in their response to a set of murders, endorsing vigilante "justice" and leaving themselves open to blackmail.

In "Whisper To The Blood" we see some of the consequences of the Aunties' actions: people taking the law into their own hands, Kate being excluded from her normal "enforcer" role by the Aunties, resulting in more vigilante actions.

This disturbance of the equilibrium of the Park as the influence of the Auntie's changes from something positive, if a little stern, into something increasingly toxic and outside of their control, is well thought through and well described. It made the Park more real to me.

It also showed me the balance that Kate Shugak always brings to her actions. Kate isn't motivated by power or a need to be in control. She doesn't give way to the outrage she sometimes feels. Without having to think through why, when she acts to limit harm or protect the weak, she does so with a calm fury guided by her sense of what is right. That's what makes her respected and feared. It's also what prevents her from understanding fully the power that she has.

"Whisper To The Blood" is packed with great scenes: a snow machine trip to remote landscapes, an attack on the river, and an encounter between Kate and a proud old man living alone in the Bush whom she deals with with a dignity, compassion and anonymity that encapsulates her values.

I enjoyed the political scenes in the book. It was fun to see the normally effortlessly competent Kate, lack the skills and knowledge to discharge her new role as Chair of the Native Association. It was even more fun to see her master it and turn the tables on the people who had been trying to make her into a clone replacement for her Grandmother.

There is one very uncomfortable scene, which would normally have been enough to make me put the book aside. Jim and Kate are fighting. Jim decides to resolve the conflict and release his frustration by having sex with Kate. Kate says "no." Repeatedly. Loudly. With her fists. Jim doesn't stop. I kept expecting that he would. Or that Kate would make him. After all, we're talking about Kate Shugak here. But Jim doesn't stop and Kate doesn't make him.

Jim's reason for deciding that "No" means "Yes"was that Kate switched off the stove as Jim approached her. This, according to Jim, was implicit consent.

The most surprising thing is that, the next morning, and apparently for some hours before that, Kate agreed with him.

I wasn't sure what to make of this. In a way it was an extension of the relationship that the two of them have built: part inextinguishable desire, part refusal by either of them to give an inch and part a hope for something more and different. In another way it felt like the violation it appeared to be. An insane mix of anger and lust seems to have ensnared them both. I couldn't make up my mind if they' d both found release of if they'd both just broken something fragile and important.

Perhaps life is like that. Perhaps the fact that I can't decide is a tribute to Dana Stabenow's writing. Even so, this knocked me off-centre in a way that I didn't enjoy.

"Whisper to the Blood" is still a good read, with a mystery at its core, Alaska as it stage, and a cast of well-rounded characters giving a first-class ensemble performance.

One of the things I like about the Kate Shugak series are the surprises that pop up, and how well everything is woven together throughout the story.Whisper to the Blood was no exception, and another great entry in the series. Loved it.

"I received this book as an advance reading copy through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. I've been reading this series for a while now, and even in order (so you know I really like it). This is the sixteenth Kate Shugak mystery. I strongly encourage you to read the previous 15 (in order!) before starting this book (the first book is A Cold Day for Murder, just to get you started). If you like Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski mysteries, I think you'll like the Kate Shugak mysteries.[return][return]Kate's an Alaskan Native, part-time PI, and full-time ""Park rat"" (residents of a generic national park in Alaska, based on the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park). She