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Zia Summer (1995)

av Rudolfo Anaya

Serier: Sonny Baca (1)

Medlemmar	Recensioner	Popularitet	Genomsnittligt betyg	Omnämnanden
153	7	178,262	(3.48)	9
Chicano detective Sonny Baca mines the fertile spiritual terrain of the Southwest in his quest for his cousin's killer The great-grandson of a legendary lawman and gunfighter, thirty-year-old Sonny Baca hopes he possesses even a tenth of El Bisabuelo's courage. But instead of cleaning up New Mexico by hunting down dangerous desperadoes, the struggling PI looks for missing persons and deadbeat husbands. The game changes when his cousin Gloria--the first woman Sonny ever loved--is brutally slain. Her corpse is found drained of blood. A zia sun sign, the symbol on the New Mexican flag, is carved on her stomach. Gloria's husband, Frank Dominic, a politician making a run for mayor of Albuquerque, has a powerful motive for murder. But Gloria wasn't the first victim. A year earlier, another woman was slain in the exact same way. Is a serial killer on the loose? Or is this the handiwork of some satanic cult? Feeling his cousin's spirit crying out for justice, Sonny and his girlfriend, Rita, begin a search that takes them across New Mexico's polluted South Valley to an environmental compound in the mountains. As Sonny moves closer to the truth, he uncovers a chilling connection between his past and a very real and present evil. Wanted by the FBI, the brujo known as Raven plays mind games and changes shape at will. Will Sonny be able to stop his diabolical plan before the Southwest explodes in a nuclear holocaust? Zia Summer is a thrilling spiritual journey that doesn't hesitate to ask the big questions.… (mer)

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3.5 stars. It's hard to believe that the person who wrote this cheezy detective novel also wrote Bless Me, Ultima. But it's true. (

)

bookonion | Mar 10, 2024 |

3.5 really. It'd be higher, but it seems almost like a serial - wherein we learn some of the same things about the history of the area where private investigator Sonny Baca lives and works over and over again. Of course iteration is important, and of course Sonny goes through several things over and over while fighting the first appearance of the man who is, apparently, going to be his nemesis (the forces, maybe, that will be). I know everyone knows Bless Me, Ultima, but I'm wondering how many people have read Rudolfo Anaya's mysteries too. (Please talk to me if you have!) (

)

SuziSteffen | Feb 20, 2018 |

This gave me some trouble with the southwestern Spanish - realized how little I have retained from high school :) Still, most was understandable from context & the story itself compelling. The mystery is twisted and the resolution satisfactory, but the real story is about culture & the main character learning about himself. I found it charming and look forward to the next in the series. (

)

RedQueen | Jan 15, 2018 |

I read the sequel to this book first, since it was due back to the library first, so maybe I'd have enjoyed this book more had I read them in the right order, but I think Rio Grande Fall was a stronger book. Still, this was a good book, and makes me wish I'd moved to Albuquerque when I had the chance. (

)

JBarringer | Dec 30, 2017 |

Sonny Baca is a private investigator in Alburquerque, specializing in divorce, insurance cases and missing persons. But when Gloria Dominic, wife of a prominent developer and mayoral candidate, is found murdered, her mother hires Sonny to find out who killed Gloria. The police chief seems intent on blaming it on a “bungled burglary,” but Sonny recognizes the sign of the sun at the murder scene and knows that the zia symbol frequently marks the work of brujas (evil witches).

This is a very atmospheric murder mystery, full of the magical realism that goes with ghost stories and folk tales. But the plot has a fair amount of very real and gritty violence, perpetrated by flesh-and-blood humans, not paranormal entities.

Anaya is best known for his poetic coming-of-age story, Bless Me, Ultima, and this is his first turn at gritty mystery writing. The poetry still comes through, however, especially in the ways he describes the landscape, and various characters’ relationship with the land. I particularly loved Don Eliseo and his cronies, and the ways they helped (or hindered) Sonny’s investigation.

I did think that Anaya went a little overboard with the brujas and mysticism, however. I felt that some of the scenes focusing on this aspect of the mystery actually detracted from the pace of the novel and the story arc.

Still, it’s a satisfying murder mystery, and I’d read more of the series. (

)

BookConcierge | Aug 5, 2016 |

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1995

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Sonny Baca

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Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

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Chicano detective Sonny Baca mines the fertile spiritual terrain of the Southwest in his quest for his cousin's killer The great-grandson of a legendary lawman and gunfighter, thirty-year-old Sonny Baca hopes he possesses even a tenth of El Bisabuelo's courage. But instead of cleaning up New Mexico by hunting down dangerous desperadoes, the struggling PI looks for missing persons and deadbeat husbands. The game changes when his cousin Gloria--the first woman Sonny ever loved--is brutally slain. Her corpse is found drained of blood. A zia sun sign, the symbol on the New Mexican flag, is carved on her stomach. Gloria's husband, Frank Dominic, a politician making a run for mayor of Albuquerque, has a powerful motive for murder. But Gloria wasn't the first victim. A year earlier, another woman was slain in the exact same way. Is a serial killer on the loose? Or is this the handiwork of some satanic cult? Feeling his cousin's spirit crying out for justice, Sonny and his girlfriend, Rita, begin a search that takes them across New Mexico's polluted South Valley to an environmental compound in the mountains. As Sonny moves closer to the truth, he uncovers a chilling connection between his past and a very real and present evil. Wanted by the FBI, the brujo known as Raven plays mind games and changes shape at will. Will Sonny be able to stop his diabolical plan before the Southwest explodes in a nuclear holocaust? Zia Summer is a thrilling spiritual journey that doesn't hesitate to ask the big questions.

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