Saturday, March 4, 2017

An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson *****

An Obvious Fact by Craig Johnson in a contemporary western about Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire. He is assisted by Henry Standing Bear, also known as the Cheyenne Nation, and undersheriff Victoria Moretti, usually called Vic. Vic drives an orange dodge that can go about 200 mph.

This is a book of clever nicknames and dialogue. The Cheyenne Nation's car is named Lola after the old girlfriend Lola Wojciechowski. Lola drives a gold '66 Cadillac DeVille. Walt's granddaughter Lola is named after the car. There are two bad guys named Frick and Frack. You get the idea.

Vic signs up for a skeet shooting competition.
I nudged her shoulder. "Scared?"
She barked a laugh. "Hell with that; I'm used to targets that shoot back.
Clever dialogue.

Between the names and the dialogue, the story flies by. An engaging page-turner. There is a mystery, but I think the fun is in the reading and the plot is just a bonus.

I rarely mention typos, even though they seem to be on the increase. I would never say anything about a small press or independent author, but this is a  Penguin Random House book, and the typo has to do with numbers.

The story revolves about time trials. The first time posted is 14.01 seconds. This time is beaten by 14 seconds flat. The final winner finishes in 13:59. 13:59, as in 13 minutes and 59 seconds? It should have been 13.99.


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