Stan Jones (2) (1947–)

Stan Jones' Nathan Active series has long been my favorite mystery series set in Alaska. Raised by white parents in Anchorage, Active's job with the Alaska Highway Patrol soon leads him to the small Inupiat village of Chukchi on Alaska's north coast where he is now Chief of Public Safety. The backbone of this series is its depiction of village life and how Active slowly becomes a part of it and of his heritage.

Now married and with a small child, Nathan finds monitoring Tommie Leokuk's show more midnight rambles a tough assignment, and I loved the solution one of his men came up with. When you live in a small indigenous village at the end of a very long food chain, you have to think smart because there's just no money available, and these "fixes" that everyone comes up with are just one way Chukchi village life feels so real.

Nathan's investigation leads him to the oil fields and a phrase that I wish would be erased from our vocabulary within my lifetime ("Boys will be boys") to the streets of Chukchi. The dead woman had two lovers, one male and one female, and Active almost wore a rut in the road being led in circles between the two suspects. This is a mystery where readers know one of two people did it, and they have to wade through all the lies to deduce which one is guilty.

Good-old fashioned armchair sleuthing in a hostile, fascinating environment that's brought to life by a master. If you're a reader, this is one of life's pleasures. If you're new to the series and want to give it a try, start at the beginning (White Sky Black Ice) so you won't miss all-important character development. show less

Alaska State Trooper Nathan Active was born in a remote town to an Inupiaq mother, but was raised in Anchorage by adoptive parents. Ironically, he ends up posted to Chukchi, the town of his birth and where his birth mother still lives. He's doing everything he can to earn a promotion out of there. He's not sure whether his current case will help or hurt his chances for promotion. When two Inupiat men die within hours of each other, apparent suicides, Active's gut tells him there's something show more wrong. He soon learns that the men had something in common, and that's enough to trigger a murder investigation.

I found a lot to like in this series debut. I like mysteries with unusual settings, and northern Alaska qualifies as unusual. Nathan has a lot of potential as the central character of a crime series. He has a lot of confidence in his professional skills and training, but he has some insecurities in his personal life. He lives in a tension between two cultures – the Inupiat culture of his birth mother and the white majority culture of his adoptive family. He feels a bit like an outsider in both cultures. He's also resisting his attraction to a native co-worker, since he has ambitions beyond the confines of Chukchi. I'll be looking for more books in this series to see how his life and his career develop. show less

The first book in Stan Jones's Nathan Active series has the task of painting a picture of who Nathan Active is. The character development is slow in regards to Active's personality. Jones spends a lot of time building the backstory of Active's adoption after his fifteen year old Inupiat mother gave him up. He was raised by a white couple in Anchorage and grew up to be a state trooper. Here's the rub: he has been posted back in his little birth village of Chukchi where he feels torn between show more the cultures of his upbringing and the traditions in his blood. He's an obvious outsider, being raised in the big city. But when atypical suicides start happening one right after the other Active decides to listen to his ancestral roots and dig in. show less

After a very long seven-year gap, I was thrilled to see another installment of one of my favorite series. Stan Jones makes the remote regions of Alaska and the customs, food, language, and familial relationships of the Inupiat people come to life. He's the only author I've read who can actually make the Arctic ice speak. In Tundra Kill, Jones brings readers right into the heart of the wilderness in an iced-up Cesna-- an excellent section of the book.

Relationships play an important role here, show more and the relationship between Nathan and Grace is first and foremost. Tundra Kill is a bit more sexually explicit than I'm used to when reading mysteries, but it's in keeping with the story (and never goes overboard). Grace is a survivor of sexual abuse, and the intimate relationship Nathan has with the woman he loves is fundamental to their future together.

Jones has written a wonderfully twisty plot with touches of humor that can make readers laugh out loud. Nathan is up against some very devious people, and it is fun to watch how he deals with them. Long-time fans of the series-- like me-- are familiar with his naivete and will probably react strongly to some of the twists and turns in the plot. I know I did.

To be honest, I could've done without the Sarah Palin-esque character in Tundra Kill, but Jones kept me from terminal eyes-rolling-back-in-the-head with his fast pace, devilish plot, and Nathan Active. I sincerely hope there isn't another seven years until the next book. This entire series is choice. show less