Bone Walker

The Anasazi Mysteries #3

by Kathleen O'Neal Gear, W. Michael Gear

W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, award-winning archaeologists and international bestselling authors, break extraordinary new ground in the riveting sequal to their bestselling The Summoning God. Bone Walker is more than a murder mystery, it is a psychological thriller filled with the action that have made this the dynamic duo of the historical. They have breathed life into the vanished world of the Anasazi, bringing out the spirit, the loves, and a mysterious world where mystery and horror lurk in every shadow, behind every door, sometimes right before you. The Gears invite you to follow them down the dark labyrinth of the serial killers mind in Book III of the Anasazi Mysteries.

Eight hundred years have passed since the Mogollon holy man was murdered in Flowing Waters Town. The threads of evil spun by Two Hearts are drawn across time to ensnare modern archaeologists Dusty Stewart and Maureen Cole. The "Wolf Witch" has killed archaeologist Dale Emerson Robertson, and Dusty and Maureen must unmask the murderer before he strikes again. But in so doing, Dusty will root out disturbing secrets about his own past that will cast his father's suicide in an unsettling light. With so many skeletons in the closet, even a bone expert like Maureen can be baffled...and the Wolf Witch is two steps ahead of them, drawing them relentlessly into his trap...

From the national award-winning archaeologists and international bestselling authors of The Visitant and The Summoning God comes a novel of unforgettable terror about a murder in America eight hundred years ago...and a power that transcends time.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Native American, Fantasy, Mystery Thriller, Historical

672 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

My professional life began in the dark basement of the Museum of Cultural History in Los Angeles, where I was cataloguing three-hundred-year-old Guatemalan saint carvings. I quit this fascinating job and moved to Wyoming to work for the U.S. Department of the Interior as a historian and archaeologist. When I finally understood the error of my ways I moved to Wyoming and started writing books. Since then, I've authored or co-authored 54 novels and around 200 non-fiction publications.

I love writing. And buffalo. And hiking the wilds of Wyoming's backcountry.

I'm married (until he comes to his senses) to W. Michael Gear, the novelist and my co-author, and we live at the edge of the Wind River Indian Reservation in the Owl Creek mountains of Wyoming. We're contented watching buffalo and writing books.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/kathle...

Reviews

[The Girl with the Sagittarius Tattoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't read this trilogy the right way. I read book 2, The Summoning God, first, then I read book 1, The Visitant. The series tells two separate stories with the same characters, and it took me until book 3 to figure out I needed to just focus on the one story I cared about.

Starting with The Visitant, the modern storyline follows Dusty and Maureen, two archaeologists called in to preserve and research a Native American discovery made by land developers: "Let us know ASAP if this is going to ruin our design/build plans - time is money!" What ensues is an overwrought plot that drags in too many characters with ridiculously overdescribed clothing, and usually involves Anasazi witchcraft that still has some juice from 800 years ago. I have never enjoyed this modern-day plotline. Plus their clothes are all straight out of 1981 or something.

On the other hand, the hist fic/mystery storyline that's really good centers on War Chief Browser and his Uncle Stone Ghost, famous throughout all the People for solving crimes. Over the course of the trilogy truths are revealed about the nature of their family both ancestral and current. The clan that Browser and Stone Ghost belong to endures more than its fair share of tragedy and heartbreak, and I don't mind saying that if you are squeamish about violence - toward women in particular - the Gears are not the authors for you. But if you can stomach it, the complexity of this storyline across all three books is pretty rewarding... but you almost need a pad and pen to keep track of who's who and what's what.

One thing I don't like about this trilogy is that the Gears don't help out their readers with very many recaps from the prior books. The events from one book positively flow right into the next, almost like they broke up a 1,600 page novel into three. My reading style is not such that I read a series one book after the other, so this way of writing doesn't really work for me. Many times during this book I found myself wishing I could remember a lot of things from The Visitant and The Summoning God (both read in 2015). Gears: Don't be so stingey with your recaps!

By the time I got to Bone Walker, I realized that these 500- to 700-page books contain one really great 300-page story. The two storylines are only mildly related and only one of them is interesting, so I skipped the Dusty-and-Maureen story and stuck with Browser and Stone Ghost's storyline in this one. Now I know I didn't read the book the authors wanted me to read in toto, but I just don't care. I enjoyed this book 100% better for ditching D&M.

If I had a friend who'd read these books, I would want that person to tell me that if they could read them over again for the first time, they'd stick to Browser's story and not Dusty's. So there you go.

[Mo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kathleen O'Neal Gear is one of the great anthropological researchers of our time. This book was both interesting and chilling.

[Barbara Mitchell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an unusual choice for me. I picked it up thinking it might be a mystery similar to a Tony Hillerman novel. Actually it is two separate storylines, one set in ancient times and the other in present day New Mexico. They play out over the same area, converging and parting, advancing to a combustion of both times and characters.

The authors, Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear are anthropologists and archeologists, and their expertise is what makes this book work, also what made it interesting to me. There are witches in the story, and modern people as well as Anasazi who believe in the witches' powers. There are characters who admire the Indian culture and customs and others who only want to prey on them and steal their valued artifacts. And there is a love story, a relationship that builds from friends and colleagues to an emotional tie that won't be broken.

The Anasazi characters are a little difficult to figure out at first, but once the reader gets to know them, their unusual names aren't a problem. Most have names like Rain Crow or White Cone, Indian names such as we are used to hearing. However, the hero is Browser, one of the First People, and the woman who loves him is called Catkin. He is War Chief and she is his best warrior; perhaps explaining why it takes him so long to realize he loves her. I was drawn also to the relationship between Browser's old uncle and a strange, abused female child he befriends. He calls the child Bone Walker, discovering only at the end that her real name is Piper.

The modern hero is Dusty Stewart and his childhood abandonment by his parents figures largely in the story. His love interest is Dr. Maureen Cole who has been called in from Canada to help in a dig. The first murder victim happens to be the man who raised Dusty, someone everyone (except the murderer of course) loved. Both stories are engrossing and held my interest even though this is a large book and includes detailed description of this part of New Mexico.

I didn't realize until I finished the book that it is the third in a series, but I don't believe that had any effect at all upon my enjoyment of the book. I recommend this older book from 2001, especially to readers who like me love to learn about Indian culture and are fascinated by archeology. The wonderful characters are just the icing on a delicious cake.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bone Walker (The Anasazi Mysteries, #3)
Gear, Kathleen O'Neal *
Gear, W. Michael
The final third of the Anasazi Mystery series, one of the most mysterious and surprising books by these two outstanding writers.
Dale is dead and Dusty's world has been turned upside down. There are many things he has not faced in his past, and those things include his mother and the man he believed stole his mother away. The hard truths are the toughest realities. But this story is not just the beginning of the real love story of Maureen and Dusty, but the ghosts of the past haunting all of them. Can Maureen and Dusty work through the clues and find out who is Kwewur, and stopping his homicidal crusade?
Browser has killed his wife in defense of his best friend Catkin. He has injured the greatest witch if his time. He has begun a journey that will unravel all the efforts of Shadow Woman and Two Hearts. The sadistic, incestuous, malevolent, corrupting, consuming, power that is destroying his world. Can he save the ones he loves? Will he risk all to find a solution to the destruction of the Straight Path nation, or find somewhere to hide?

[Alexandria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings about this book series since the first page of the first book. I found myself almost despising the historical chapters, and not for any reason other than the fact that I absolutely hated the main character, Browser. He never seemed sincere, and always seemed like he was working from the perspective of a required duty rather than a place of honor or love. I found myself skimming or completely skipping the chapters that focused on him because I couldn't get over his inner dialogue of weird horny lust and regret.

The book needs a warning, especially when telling the story of Piper, Ash Girl, Shadow, etc. because of the rape and incest. However, the chapters that contained Stone Ghost, or Stone Ghost and Bone Walker/Piper I found myself absolutely in love with. Honestly, reading from any perspective-- other than Browser's-- was enjoyable.

The chapters with Maureen and Dusty were fantastic, the combination of real-life experiences in the field of archaeology and just life, in general, made these chapters fascinating. The slow build-up of friendship and feelings between the pair is admirable, as a flash-romance is unbelievable. The addition of real anthropological arguments surrounding the ethical approach to anthropology and archaeology is also an important inclusion to the story, as it not only helps to develop the characters but also brings to a light a very real, and very controversial topic in today's study of anthropology.

The concept of the story is well thought out, and enjoyable, however, there are a lot of issues within the story that made me cringe or grow annoyed with the books. I can only give this a 6/10 recommendation (that's going high, as well), and if I were to recommend this, I'd honestly just give the advice of "Skip Browser's chapters as best you can. Catkin is the real bamf."

[Gilda Felt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe the Gears were saving the best for last, because this third book in the trilogy is heads and shoulders above the first two. The mysteries are deeper, and kept you guessing. My only regret is that much of that is due to Dale’s death. He was a great character and I was sad to see him go. But it brings out the best in Dusty, whose grief follows you through the story. Who has killed his foster father is a guessing game, as first one character, and then another, seems to be the prime suspect.

There’s also a deeper mystery in the past, where the ancient tribes seem to be tearing themselves apart. And while Catkin is still my favorite character from this vanished civilization, Browser has gone a long way to redeem himself. Together, they lead the reader through this ancient land. They know who killed the Mogollon holy man, but finding him, and ending his reign of terror, won’t be easy.

The stories, of Browser and Catkin in the past, and Dusty and Maureen in the present, are interesting, compelling, and totally satisfying.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the third in a trilogy and I loved the entire story (Anasazi Mystery). Of course there are all kinds of theories as to what happened to the Anasazi and probably most are correct. This speculative story includes many of them. I love the side by side stories, one among the Anasazi trying to survive and the other set in the present with the archeologists gradually figuring out part of the answer and then the climax tying both together. Well worth the time spent reading it. I am kicking myself for never visiting Chaco Canyon while I could still walk. And I was close... Just didn't know enough to stop.

[Tharen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third in a trilogy about the Anasazi and the current day archaeologists that research them. In this installment, one of the main characters from the other books is killed early on. The archaeologists and local natives blame witchcraft, but the FBI, which is brought in because the murder happened on Federal land, is skeptical. Meanwhile, in the past, the war chief Browser is hunting the witch Two Hearts as the tribes are fighting because of differing religious beliefs. I enjoyed the story, although I thought it could have been edited down, it was a bit long (and I saw the series is being reissued in new, shorter versions). Overall, it was an interesting series.

[George Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The dual author things works so well here since we are told the same tale as seen through the eyes of two protagonists. One in the past living through mysterious and magical events, and also through the eyes of an archeologist, trying to fit all the pieces together into a meaningful story... and then getting sucked into the shamanistic curse of the ruins... Masterfully done!

[Cheryle Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent end of the trilogy! It completely fulfilled the promise of the first two books. Several surprises turned up that were completely believable. I would like to read further from these characters.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly engaging parallel stories across three books. All were four stars only because the writing was functional, not beautiful. I need both a great story and beautiful writing to rate any book five stars.

I did get very tired of hearing about Maureen's long braid.

[Phyllis · Rating 3 out of 5]

hard to finish. didn't hold my interest.

concurrent stories centered in Chaco. present day murders and the beginning of time for the Anasazi people.

the present-day stories were more interesting than Anasazi, complicated story.

[Kerry ODonnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book in a fascinating series about the Anasazi Indians of the Southwest. The writer has a timeline for the Anasazi story running along a present day story about the excavation of the ancient site. I could not put these books down. Great reading.

[Debra W Pingel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a good story but was bogged down with the many Indian characters names. There were many characters and keeping them all straight was hard. I was tempted to read the ancient chapters, then read the modern mystery instead of going back and forth.

[Emmanuel32463 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was good because it tells two authors that are award winners and had the bestselling books.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome intertwined pair of adventure/mysteries set 800 years apart! I was totally in the dark before each big reveal.

[Jenny Wiley]

Great series, wish there were more

[Carol Wippich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful series. I had a hard time putting down any of the three books.

[Westley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story. Still bad writing but it improved over the course of the trilogy.

[Victoria Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series written by the award-winning archaeological team Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear. This couple has an incredible talent for bringing their field work on North American aboriginals into vivid focus. They develop their characters with such style you become certain you would know them if you met them on the street. Each book they have written draws a story around their own archaeological finds in such a way that they take you back to the fireside councils and the raging battle fields of peoples that lived on the continent nearly a millennia ago.

In this series, the Gears develop a modern day story around an archaeological team involved in trying to unravel the mysteries of sites known to have been inhabited by the Anasazi, including which ones might actually relate to the Anasazi, and the meaning behind their art and artifacts. Rulers of an empire, there was a point in their history when drought drove them to despair so deep that they turned against their own gods and their own people. This is not light-hearted reading. As the modern day scientists try to fathom the disaster they have found in an ancient kiva, the past tugs at their reason and their emotions forcing them to reassess what they may or may not believe about the ancient gods they study. The books are written using side-by-side story lines of the past and present. The two interact to solve both central mysteries as well as several conflicts between the characters and their own past histories.

I found this series truly “devouring.” It makes a statement about the assumptions and presumptions we take with us when we study those who came before us. Through the study of those that preceded us, we may be able to understand a bit more about ourselves. Sometimes it is easy to forget the power of belief and just how far it will drive the human spirit. It is best to remember…

[Brett Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a slow, somewhat confusing start...I will stick with it. Their other book started slow too and got real interesting.


The librarian at the York County library ordered it for me from a library in Louisiana...wow. I went in a few weeks ago and told her I really liked these authors and to see if she could find anything by them as a cassette book on tape. I am impressed!

Finished. After a slow start it got going. Switching back in forth between modern and ancient turned out to be a good method.
For me it was well worth the time because of the message at the end from BoneWalker, the young girl, something to the effect that to have the heart of a cloud you must live in the taers of the dead. For me that meant thinking about those who have gone before and being in touch with their tears (regrets) lessons that we need to heed, be grateful for what you have, health, time, family, love, life...an important lesson. I guess another way to say it is to remember that your time here on earth is limited so make it count. Keep everything in perspective.

[Kitty Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Gears are the best at what they do, which is writing about pre-history based on archeology, creating a plausible fictional story to help us to understand the facts and thus preserve our own Native American history. Kathleen and Michael have been my lamplight in becoming a Native American historical fiction writer. They alone are responsible for peeking my interest in our dim past and have provided a window to that time and place of which they write. If you desire to see the past of our unknown history of the Native tribes of North America, I advise you to make all of the Gear's books your first choice. You can do no better. Kitty Sutton

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect for those who love archeology, Native American mysticism, or a good mystery. Luckily, this book encompasses all three! The Gears seem to be a cross between Tony Hillerman and Elizabeth Peters. Able to tell a good yarn with a bit of humor, a lot of history, and a compelling style that makes this book hard to put down. I'm not a big fan of sexual references, so I wish this book had less nudity and lust. It took away from the story and seemed gratuitous. But other than that, it was a good read.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! It's very long at nearly 600 pages, but well worth the time. The length is needed because it's telling two stories - one of the Anasazis 700 years in the past and one in current times in the American Southwest. The mystery and suspense in both tales is well done and addicting. The last 150 pages were spellbinding. :D

My only complaint about the book is the editing. They should fire their editor.

Editing aside, I highly recommend this story for anyone interested in American Indian lore.

[Roxie Gallinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This three book series has ended with success. .can't say enough about Kathleen and Micheal W Gears writing about Native Indians and how they fought wars against other tribes..how they survived..the food they ate and the healing powers the Shaman..these books are more then interesting..you fall into another place in time, these two Authors write in a way that your imagination never faults as you drift away..

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Anasazi Mysteries were my first introduction to the writing of Kathleen O'Neal Gear and, to date, the best stuff she's written. It is set in ancient New Mexico it is a superb series of mystery-murder stories that evoke the harsh yet beautiful world of the Anasazi. The images Katherine paints still drift through my conscious mind like some dream.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the last book in a trilogy re the anasazi. I liked the series; however, the violence was a bit more then i like to read about.....since most of it was history (8 pages of bibliography), i made it thru the gory parts. The author links a mystery that happened approx 800 yrs ago w/a present day mystery. I havent read anything else by these authors other then this series.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to leave a glowing review full of spoilers, but that's not fair... Instead, I must simply label this book [and its predecessors in this trilogy] as "masterful in so many ways".

It's enough to make me want to start the insanely voluminous First North Americans series, as well as anything else these two have any hand in writing.

[Kathy Sebesta · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a fascinating set of stories and well worth reading if you've any curiosity about the Anasazi. It's fiction, of course, but it feels real.

And if you've never run into any of the Gears' "People of the..." series (probably 30 boox, each focusing on a different group of Native Americans), I highly recommend reading at least a few.

[Charls Reyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2nd novel I've ever finished reading in my life. I was 14 when I read it - finished all 672 pages of it. Awesome! This introduced me to Mystery/Crime and from then on Mystery has become one of my favorite novel genres. What raises the bar with this one is the archaeological flair, with characters coming from Mayan-esque tribes of some sort... (nostalgic -___-)