Thumps DreadfulWater is a Cherokee ex-cop turned photographer who ends
up becoming a detective. A casino/condo
complex is about to be opened when the body of a computer programmer is found
on the premises. Stick Merchant, a young
activist opposed to the development, is the prime suspect so his mother Diane,
the band chief and Thumps’ sometimes lover, asks Thumps to investigate. As is expected, Thumps solves the case,
though not before more murders occur.
This is the first book of the series so there is considerable background
given about Thumps. He left the police
force in Eureka, California, because of a tragedy after which “being a cop was something
he could no longer do.” He is now a
photographer but considers himself “self-unemployed.” One friend calls him lazy – “’the laziest man
I’ve ever known’” – and napping does seem to be his favourite past-time. That same friend also tells him that he is “’good
at what you do’” and it does not come as a surprise that he is better at
detective work than the sheriff, Duke Hockney.
The touches of humour make the book an entertaining read. There really isn’t the biting social and
political satire I expected; chuckles are a more typical reaction to the
light-hearted humour. There are comments
like “Trouble . . . was like a man, never in short supply, never too far away” and
descriptions like a man having “no more romance than a Kleenex.” Another character is introduced as “a skinny
reed of a man who enjoyed complaining the way some people enjoy chocolate. He was an uncomplicated, unrepentant mix of
bigotry, sexism, and general vulgarity, a social garbage can on legs.” About the most pointed comment is the
reference to one man’s hatred of Native-Americans: “That was the nice thing about hate . . . You
didn’t have to be right. You just had to
be committed.”
The one element that had me puzzled was setting. When Thumps left California, he moved east
and he seems to be living somewhere in the northwest in a town named Chinook. I think of King as a Canadian writer (though I know he is American by birth), but it
becomes clear that the fictional Chinook is in the U.S. because the F.B.I.
comes to investigate. So what’s with the
Tim Horton’s reference? It and the
mention of Calgary are an appeasement to Canadian readers?
This is a fast, non-taxing read.
The mystery is fairly straightforward and identifying the villain is not
too difficult. It is the sharp dialogue
and witty exposition combined with the indigenous view of the world that make this
book more than ordinary.
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