Surrogate Evil

Lee Nez #4

by David Thurlo, Aimée Thurlo

It's frustrating for local law enforcement to come up against a piece of scum like Newton Glover.  He's dirty as hell, everyone knows that--breaks into and vandalizes his neighbors' homes; cheats and steals from everyone; folks suspect he deals drugs and porn.  He's even killed a man and gotten away with it.  He gets away with all of it, hinting that he has a secret government background and that he's "protected" by the Powers That Be.  
Glover may finally have gone too far.  He's suspected of kidnapping a young teenage boy to use for child porn and a pedophile sex-ring.  There's no proof, but this time, Albuquerque police are determined to nail Glover to the wall.  
Lee Nez, a Navajo state police officer, and Diane Lopez, an FBI agent, go undercover in Glover's trailer park.  Lee and Diane find that their growing attraction for each other is heightened by their posing as husband and wife, but do not allow that to distract them from their mission.  They soon learn that not long ago, Glover's neighbors tried to take the law into their own hands--they dragged Glover from his home and beat him to death, leaving him in a shallow grave.  
To everyone's shock, a few days later Glover reappeared with not a mark on him.  Lee and Diane are no strangers to the supernatural--Lee is a Navajo vampire and Diane's last FBI partner was killed by a werewolf.  Whatever Glover is, they'll deal with it.
When a second child goes missing and clues link her to Glover, Lee and Diane know they are running out of time.  Glover may be some kind of un-dead, but soon those children will be really dead, or worse. 

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Vampires, Fantasy, Native American

320 pages, Hardcover

First published November 28, 2006

About the author

David Thurlo, is co-author of the Ella Clah series, the Lee Nez series of Navajo vampire mysteries, and the Sister Agatha novels. His other works, co-written with his wife Aimée, include Plant Them Deep, a novel featuring Rose Destea, the mother of Ella Clah, and The Spirit Line, a young adult novel.
David was raised on the Navajo Reservation and taught school there until his recent retirement. He left Shiprock briefly to complete his education at the University of New Mexico.He lives in Corrales, New Mexico, and often makes appearances at area bookstores.

David and Aimée Thurlo were married for forty-three years. Aimée, born in Havana, Cuba, died in February 2014.

The Thurlos' novels, translated into many different languages, are available around the world.

Reviews

[Coralee Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

A surrogate is someone who substitutes or stands in for another in a specific role or office. In this case, the villain stands in for the concept of 'Evil". The 4th and final book in this series is interesting purely from the Thurlo's choice of this villain. In prior books, the bad guys have been skin walkers, and vampires; mythological creatures of evil. Here we have evil in the human form. The corrupt, the pedophile, the bully are all present in Surrogate Evil.

Lee and Diane are teamed again to go undercover to root out a very bad seed. Newton Glover is able to get away with murder. He lives for intimidation, supporting himself by blackmail. Into his life come Diane and Lee. An opening scuffle results in Lee breaking a baseball bat, and staring Glover down. Truly there is a new 'bad dog' in town.

The plot remains focused on that of a cat can mouse game that accelerates splendidly. The secondary plot involving child kidnapping and pedophilia is woven neatly into the story line. I read the version from 2006. The novel is dated a bit when discussing electronic surveillance and the use of cell phones. Otherwise this is a fun read.

It is a pity the Thurlo's were not able to continue the series. There were stories about Diane and Lee left to tell.

[Denise Zendel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lee Nez, a New Mexico State Police Officer and Diane Lopez, an FBI agent, go undercover in an isolated community in Bernalillo County to take down a neighborhood predator terrorizes his community with impunity, and is suspected of dealing drugs and pornography. Nothing ever sticks to Newton Glover though – charges get dropped and witnesses disappear. Neighbors even tried to take the law into their own hands by shooting up Glover’s trailer. He disappeared and people hoped he was dead, but he came back to the area a few days later with not a scratch on him, spooking his neighbors even more. When Glover becomes the top suspect in the kidnapping of a 10-year-old boy to use the child in porn, stopping his reign of terror becomes even more critical.

In addition to being a State Police Officer, Nez is a half-vampire and those vampire attributes (keen eyesight, supersonic hearing, great strength, speed, and agility) have served him well over his long career. Diane’s last partner was killed by a shapeshifter, so Lee’s attributes don’t scare her. They wonder if Newton’s ability to escape consequences means he’s a supernatural threat, but if he is, they have the skills to deal with it.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this series. I like how the paranormal elements are plausibly woven into the plot. No one sparkles. Lee, while he enjoys fresh blood, doesn’t really need it. And he’s never touched human blood, the very idea repulses him. And sunlight can hurt him, if he doesn’t take precautions, so he always has a bottle of sunscreen with a high SPF handy. The authors perfectly describe New Mexico’s settings and politics. The dialogue is tight, the characters multi-dimensional, and the plots action-packed.

I was sad when I finished this one, because it’s the fourth of a four-book series. I could see following Lee and Diane’s adventures for a long time, but that’s not to be. No spoilers here, but the ending was good and satisfying. The authors have a couple of other series which are quite good as well, so at least I have more of their work to read.

[lynne fireheart · Rating 3 out of 5]

"How on earth can someone be a half-vampire?" kept running through my head as I was reading this novel. For an answer to that, looks like I'll need to start at the beginning with Second Sunrise. However, apart from that nagging question, jumping into this series at Book 4 doesn't have you at much of a disadvantage in terms of understanding the two main characters: Diane Lopez, an FBI agent, and Lee Nez, a Navajo state police officer who happens to be the half-vampire in question. And yes, Diane knows about Lee's "condition".

In this tale, a scumbag called Newton Glover has carved out a little kingdom of his own, ruling the area through bullying and intimidation. He's even killed a man and gotten away with it. The police just can't seem to pin anything on him. When a young boy is abducted, everyone is sure Glover is involved somehow despite the lack of any evidence: Lee Nez and Diane Lopez are assigned to go undercover, spy on Glover, and see if they can't find the kid *and* build a case against Glover.

What happens next is a slightly disturbing plunge into the world as ruled by Glover, where the local cops seem to be under his thumb, where confrontations result in an ambush with armor-piercing bullet or the rigging a trailer home to blow with a single misstep. Following the undercover couple as they kept tailing Glover and a few other people just about every night, being told over and over how they were keeping in touch via their cellphones [what a concept, in this day and age!] - all that started to get a bit old rather fast. However, that was compensated by the rather interesting plot twists and turns, not to mention the outrageous ending that would be a blast to translate onto the big screen.

While I found the writing style rather dry [unlike the wry humor of Jim Butcher's harry Dresden series, for example], I enjoyed this book enough to want to read this series from the beginning. Second Sunrise, here I come!

Note: for the First Edition Hardcover (Dec 2006), I picked up on an inconsistency between the dust cover summary/description (describes neighbors getting together to beat Glover to his supposed death) and the content of the book itself (the attempt on Glover's life was by a lone neighbor and his shotgun). Don't you hate it when people in the book biz are sloppy?

(This was my review at FUN WITH DEAD TREES (r.i.p.))

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not anything that I expected. The saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” applies whole heartedly to this novel. The cover and summary both suggested to me a story filled with the supernatural, but instead, it was more of a police drama. The male protagonist, Lee Nez, is a Navajo half vampire while his partner is the sexy FBI agent Diane Lopez. Surrogate Evil follows the two detectives as they track down the notorious criminal Newton Glover, a man with supposed supernatural powers and the man that they think kidnapped a young boy.
One of the big issues I had with this book was the development of the protagonists, particularly of Lee Nez. He is a half vampire, but you wouldn’t have known that unless they specifically told you. I sure wouldn’t have. Lee does not exhibit any traits of a vampire apart from enhanced night vision, super speed and strength. The affliction he has to sunlight was only marginally mentioned, while his thirst for blood was summed up with “Blood was more like a seasonal treat to him.”
To be honest, I felt the antagonist, Glover, was the more intriguing character in this novel. He was much more developed then any other character in the story. He starts out as a criminal who has an entire town under his control. “This guy is big, rough- a schoolyard bully grown up. I also read the rumour about him being killed, then showing up a few days later, apparently unharmed.” He has gotten away with murder and kidnapping charges, and he is even rumoured to have supernatural abilities. While it is later shown that Glover is only a man, he is incredibly dangerous and is not hesitant to harming people who are in his way. The character development is what I look for a lot in novels, and other than this one character, there was not a whole lot of it.
The writing style in this story I must say, was kind of dreary. There was hardly any suspenseful build-up and I felt that the story had a very straight forward feel to it. There was not much irony or humour used, and the characters were not delved into deeply enough. However, it contained enough plot twists that kept the story exciting. Overall, this book is worth a read if you are looking for a police drama/fantasy cross over. If you are looking for a story full of vampires, living dead, or other such supernatural beings, I suggest you find another story.

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting premise: a Navajo policeman turned into a vampire returns to the reservation under another name and pursues life as a state police officer. He teams up with a smart, strong female FBI agent to solve mysteries.

[Lee Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing. Not nearly as good as the three previous Lee Nez novels.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't care for the skinwalker protagonist, tho I have learned something about them as a result of this

[Thea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, really interesting.