Lizard Skin

by Carsten Stroud

Carsten Stroud has cracked the cop code of silence. In Close Pursuit, a New York Times nonfiction bestseller and then in his first novel, the award-winning Snipers Moon, he exposed the jagged edge of life - and death - in the New York City Police Department. Now in his new novel, Stroud draws us down a different kind of mean street, a place where the law is a single flashing light on an open highway or deserted back road, a tiny beacon in a sea of darkness. Sergeant Beau McAllister of the Montana State Highway Patrol has a formidable service record, an engaging wit, and a quick trigger-finger. In the vast, lonely grandeur of Yellowstone County, Beau knows the potential for human cruelty and ugliness is always there, coiled in silent waiting like a rattlesnake in an arroyo. When violence touches Beau's life on a slow Friday afternoon, it arrives in a rattler-fast strike. He checks out a reported armed robbery at Joe Bell's truck stop and finds an amazing shootout in progress between an enraged Joe Bell, whose wild shooting endangers the whole area, and a band of Dakota Indians firing back - with bows and arrows. When the smoke clears, a Dakota boy is dead, Beau McAllister has been forced to shoot Joe Bell in the butt, and Beau's own problems with the law have just begun. But what appears to be a bizarre incident fueled by out-of-control tempers is actually the first crack in a conspiracy of astonishing corruption. And as Beau starts his investigation, he does not realize he is being shadowed by someone equally determined to get at the truth: Gabriel Picketwire, an enigmatic Lakota Indian with a link to the dead and wounded Native Americans. In the hard, rocky Montana terrain, the two men head toward a fateful collision, closing in on sinister forces that have taken a terrible liberty with other people's lives. Once again, with searing intensity and laser precision, Carsten Stroud has penetrated the thin blue line. Lizardskin touches a raw nerve and lays open the

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Mystery Thriller, Action

374 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Carsten Stroud is the author of the New York Times bestseller Close Pursuit, and the award-winning Sniper's Moon, both set in the New York City Police Department. He lives and writes in Thunder Beach, Ontario, Canada.

Awards:
* Arthur Ellis Award Best First Novel (1991): Sniper's Moon
* Arthur Ellis Award Best Novel (1993): Lizardskin

Reviews

[Checkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this novel up in the Salt Lake City Airport in August of 1993. I was on my way to Germany where I would spend the next three years courtesy of the United States Army. It's a long plane ride from Salt Lake City to Frankfurt, Germany (with a layover in St. Louis). I read this novel on the way there and I have read it a couple times since. It's remained one of my favorites and the very battered paperback copy is still in my library.

Like all of Stroud's books this one is strong on atmosphere, character description and action pieces. It's a little different for Stroud in that it's his usual police procedural novel/mystery meeting up with a Robin Cook medical mystery novel. To be honest I didn't see that part of the story coming and I know some of have been critical of this, but I didn't mind it. Oh and there are definite aspects of the Western as well. The protagonist is a Montana State Trooper after all and the story involves Native Americans, wealthy and powerful ranchers (well their descendants - both blood and spiritual) and even a Dog Soldier - of sorts.

There isn't much more I can say without ruining the novel. Shouldn't be too hard to find a copy in a used bookstore.

[Sherri Vigil · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just picked this one up off the new arrivals at the library, however, it was published in 1992. I thought it might be a good one, maybe along the lines of a Craig Johnson book. It is extremely detailed in characters, landscape and history in Montana with regards to the various Native American tribes there and the whites. For me there was just "too much" of everything. The true "crime", revealed closer to the end, was just too repulsive to be believable. I did finish it by skimming the last 3 chapters. I am doing this review (it looks so far that I'm the first review on Goodreads) to maybe give a heads-up so to speak. I gave it 4 stars for a good effort but my true opinion according to my reading preference, I would say a 1. To be fair, this was written 20 years ago. Not an author that I will read again.

[Dwight White]

Didn't care for it...Cuba Straits, The shimmer and others by Carsten are top notch. This was a little too weird and some bothersome views of Native Americans.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, satisfying crime story. Setting in Montana. I enjoyed this book.

[Sheree Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably one of the best books I've read.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, except for the end.

Lizard Skin features veteran Montana state trooper Beau MacAllister, a wise-cracking good ol' boy who has great instincts and is not too concerned with protocol. Beau is called to a truck stop to stop a robbery in progress - but the whole thing seems fishy to him and he ends up shooting the supposed victim in the butt during a 3 way fight between Beau, the "victim" and several Indians using compound bows. Beau suspects something is amiss and tugs on this loose thread until he finds the conspiracy.


The characters in this story are well-written - Beau is particularly well developed, especially for a cop novel. The DA character (Vanessa Ballard) is quite memorable and "feels" like a real person, rather than a caricature. Even McAllister's nemesis, Dwight Hogelan, shows signs of growth during the book...

Read more at: http://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2010/...

[Garth Mailman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carsten Stroud writes police procedurals from the perspective of the patrolman on the beat. They encounter life at its rawest and most primal and the author does nothing to spare the reader the gory details of man’s inhumanity to man. The present opus was published over 2 decades ago. Somehow I cringe at the Female District Attorney’s admonition that if you’re going to be forced to shoot a perp, shoot to kill and spare the county the cost of settling the ensuing lawsuit out of court; burial costs are cheaper.

Like so many books written since the arrival of computer word-processors this one suffers from word-bloat. The author waxes lyrical describing landscapes and people and how they dress. He digresses frequently at length to pages of background history which tends to make the story drag. It often takes him a long to get where he intends to go. A less is more approach would tauten the storyline.

[Irina slutsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

you know what, i found this book in a box on holly park circle as usual, and i learned so much about montana and the Lakota Indians. Turns out that "Sioux" is a white name for the Lakota. thanks to carsten stroud and his research. and this cop character was pretty normal guy, not some unrealistic hero.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

1993 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel.

Thriller - Beau McAllister, a Montana State Police sergeant, is involved in a shootout between a truck stop owner and a group of Indians armed with knives and bows. Later that night he is involved in a deadly encounter with the Indians who escaped from the truck stop. There is an increase in Indian activism and Beau looks for the connection.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carsten Stroud got his start as a reporter/true crime writer. This is a neat mystery set in the U.S. West.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the location. Surprising plot.

[Paul Holloway]

SNIPERS MOON [ 1st ] by Carsten STROUD (1990)

[Miguel Galy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with perfect description of the setting.... Made me feel like I was there right next to him!

[Pat King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminded me of tony hillerman

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Sergeant Beau McAllister of the Montana Highway Patrol gets into a violent situation very quickly.