Second Sunrise

Lee Nez #1

by David Thurlo, Aimée Thurlo

New Mexico State Police Officer Lee Nez is a nightwalker, a Navajo vampire. Thanks to the quick work of a Navajo shaman, Lee can walk about in the day and prefers his blood refrigerated-but his vampire nature makes him a magnet for other supernatural entities.

Take his current cases. Lee suspects that the vampire who created him during World War II is back in the US, searching for a cache of stolen plutonium. And Lee's being stalked by the remnants of a pack of skinwalkers-Navajo shapeshifters-who are literally out for his blood.

When the FBI shows up, in the person of the very attractive Diane Lopez, Lee's problems only increase. He can't tell Diane that the case she's looking into involves skinwalkers or that its his supernatural abilities that make him such a great cop. And teaming up with Lee could be very hazardous to her health.

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

336 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 9, 2002

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

[Miranda Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. Are you sitting down?

Cause this summary may knock your socks off: Half-vampire, full-Navajo police officer with a vendetta against skin walkers teams up with a FBI agent to keep the a stolen World War II plutonium out of ex-Nazi full-vampire hands.

I know, right?

I couldn't get enough of it.

Lee Nez (our half-vamp, full-Navajo, full-cop) accidentally intercepted a plutonium ambush during WWII. Lee becomes gravely injured.

Much to his horror, one of the Nazis-vampires brings Lee back to life solely so he could torture the plutonium's hidden location out of Lee.

Despite his weakened condition, Lee disarms the vampire and makes a getaway to a Navajo medicine man.

While the medicine man was able to halt the progression of the disease, he was not able to fully reverse it - leaving Lee with about half the strength, lifespan and sun sensitivity of a full vampire.

The next few decades, Lee joins one police force, then another. All in the New Mexico area, hoping that the evil Nazi vampire will come back and Lee can finally get his revenge.

Only, when this finally does happen, Lee realizes that he's not nearly as prepared as he thought.

Picked it up for a reading challenge, and I honestly did not expect to enjoy this one as much as I thought I would.

The authors (Mr. and Mrs. Thurlo) do a pretty darn good job of combining plenty of left-field ideas into one cohesive story.

Finally , we have a main character with some sense in his noggin. Lee meets an evil Nazi-vampire? He tries to kill him. Lee is turned into a vampire? Immediately seeks medical aid.

That being said, there were a few things that threw me out of the story - namely the tone, the romance and the skinwalkers.

The Tone

This one felt very...procedural. It was almost like someone took a police report and added in some dialogue - First, Lee did this. When folks retaliated, he then did that. It was very tell-not-show, which took some of the fun out of reading it.

The Romance

We know (immediately) that FBI agent Diane is supposed to be the love interest...but the relationship felt very forced.

Diane and Lee had fairly decent rapport when they were acting as friends, but as soon as the mood "turned romantic" the whole scene became wooden. The dialogue, in particular, became almost laughably predictable.

The Skinwalkers

We are told repeatedly that the Skinwalkers are merely animals in human form. That they will do anything and everything in their power to murder vampires. That they are evil incarnate...and I honestly didn't get that.

Sure, the Skinwalkers would attack half-vampire-Lee whenever they sniffed him out - but how is that different from someone discovering a monster is on their homeland and wanting to get rid of it?

If they were really so animalistic and evil, how do you explain them working in packs? Taking revenge if one of their family members is killed? Wearing clothes, speaking English, driving cars?

Other than that, a surprisingly enjoyable read!

The Finer Books Club 2018 Reading Challenge - a book by a husband and wife team

Audiobook Comments
Read by Brian Holsopple. He did a good job with the voices, but his narration did seem dry at times.

YouTube | Blog | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Snapchat @miranda_reads

[Barbara ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

From the description, I assumed this was a police procedural but it's not. Officer Lee Nez is a vampire searching for the evil German vampire who made him during WWII. A bunch of Navajo skinwalkers are hunting Lee as vampires are their natural enemy. FBI agent Diane Lopez is investigating one occurrence where Lee was attacked by wolves (skinwalkers). Of course, Lee can't tell her what's really going on since she'd question his sanity.

The books ok bt not very exciting. Kinda just plods along with no real suspense. Lee Nez is not a unlikable character but not really a likable one either. Definitely wouldn't continue with this series, I'm just not interested in Lee's further adventures as a vampire.

[Klp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Badly needs editing

This book would be rated higher if it were not filled with errors that would have been picked up if anyone had bothered to edit it! I understand that publishers salivate at the profits to be gained from formatting a print book as an ebook. However, the price they get away with charging surely warrants a good editor reading the finished product before releasing it! The purchaser deserves an error-free product given the the cost of the book!

[Erica Henry]

DNF on page 64
I don't know what it is with this one. I don't feel anything for the characters, I can't stand the writing style, and I was just bored.

[FicusFan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in a series that has a POV, Lee Nez , who is a Navajo State Police Officer, who becomes a vampire. It is set in New Mexico, and opens in 1945. Nazi spies are trying to steal plutonium. They are vampires, and one kills Lee's rookie partner and makes Lee a vampire.

He gets the help of a medicine man who can reduce his vampire-ness, but not completely cure him. He can go out during the day, but he is slower than a full vampire, heals slower, and still ages - though more slowly than a human.

The story then jumps to the modern day. Lee has moved around and changed identities in the past 60 years. He has been trying to track and catch the vampire who killed his partner, but has no luck. He was married to a women he loved deeply, who knew his secret, but she was killed by Navajo Skinwalkers. Lee spends the whole book mourning and it gets tiresome.

He has become a state police officer again, under a new identity. He is being stalked by the Skinwalkers, and they are making a public mess that handicaps him with his superiors. Skinwalkers are Navajo witches and they can smell vampire blood. They want his blood to use in their rituals to make them immortal. They shift into animal form. and when he kills them he has large dead animals at his crime scene or naked dead humans if they shift back. Very hard to explain.

Lee is placed on leave and is forced to work with the FBI. He has been using his police power to investigate some German pilots who are training at a nearby air base.

Eventually Lee and the FBI agent team up. She sees the Skinwalkers and believes his story about vampires. They then work together to catch the Germans red-handed as they try to retrieve the plutonium, and to catch the Skinwalkers, who have now killed police/FBI.

The story devolves into chases and battles and stories to outwit the police and FBI.

Its good, but it is a little story stretched out. I would have like more meat. and more Navajo culture. The series has 4 books and I will read them, because I expect it will get better.

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first in the Lee Nez series,this is 1945 Lee Nez is a normal human being, he is a Navaho but also a state trooper, the first Navaho State Trooper in the state of New Mexico, foils a Nazi plot to steal a shipment of plutonium. The last man standing and barely alive, Nez manages to hide the "secret weapon," but the top German spy-guy, whom Nez "killed," is able to find the Native American cop since he's in fact a vampire. In an effort to wring the plutonium's location from Nez, the German keeps him alive by turning him into a vampire. After Nez makes his escape, his vampiric vulnerability to sunlight is partly eliminated thanks to a medicine man. Other supernatural characteristics remain, but they're less intense than in a full-fledged vampire: although his appetite increases, Nez doesn't need blood to survive. As a "nightwalker" he acquires dangerous new enemies, the "skinwalkers," evil shape-changing witches, who want to kill Nez to obtain his immortality (although Nez isn't immortal). The narrative glosses over 50 years of adaptation, danger and search for the German vampire in a few pages. We then find Nez, under the name of Leonard Hawk, a state policeman again. Hawk meets up with Diane Lopez, a beautiful Hispanic FBI agent. Bureau suspicions have been aroused by his handling of a case involving skinwalkers. This was okay, the back story was necessary but then jumping 50 years. It wasn't as believable, I've got the second one in the series, so we'll see.

[Marla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now these were different! I read these just when the Vampire stuff was starting to become really popular because of Buffy. And since I LOVE detective novels - well I had to read this!
Lee Nez is a night walker, a Navajo vampire. He is also a New Mexico state police officer. Thanks to the quick work of a Navajo shaman, Lee can walk about in the day and prefers his blood refrigerated - but his vampire nature makes him a magnet for the other supernatural entities.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lee Nez Novel #1. This was a great read. It held my interest right from the beginning. I thought the story was original and the addition of the tidbits about the culture of the Native People was very interesting. I'm not very familiar with the western part of the US, so this book also lead me to do a little internet research to help me visualize the landscape mentioned in the story. I'm looking forward to reading the second in the series. Thanks for recommending this Kathryn!

[JulieAnn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great vampire story! Love the southwest setting!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to the next installment.

[Coralee Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally I don't mention the format in reviews. I tend to assume the positive, that a publisher would take special care before offering a book for review. Sadly, this is not the case for this edition of Second Sunrise. It almost appears that the spell check was done by AI. Numerous typos, litter the text, detracting from Thurlo's lively story. If you can get past the unintentional comedy "Me went to the car.. instead of He went.. --a toddler is speaking? this is a good paranormal mystery.

Mentioning lively with a tale of vampires is appropriate here. Our hero, Les Nez, was turned during WWII. Vampires in this telling, retain the character they had before their rebirth. Lee is one of the good guys, he was a law man and continues to work in law enforcement whenever possible. He vows to pursue the vampire who turned him. The chase continues for over 60 years.

David Thurlo was raised on the Navajo Reservation in Shiprock. This experience has allowed him to portray the Navajo way of life with insight. For example, our newly turned hero goes to a hatalli, a Navajo medicine man for help. The blessings and ritual healing offered to Lee sustain him. He is warned that the greatest danger comes from the Navajo skinwalker, evil beings who can transform to wild animals.

Lee is partnered with Diane, an up and coming F.B.I. agent. He is very protective of his secret. However, when skinwalkers attack them in his apartment, he is forced to share his real person.
The story continues with a breathless pace filled with bombings, police chases, and hostage taking.
The ending leaves a few loose threads which will be picked up in the next volume.

Recommended for YA and up.

[Lkowalczyk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It had potential to be a great read, but it never happened. Pretty basic plot: Navajo police officer becomes a "nightwalker"... 1/2 vampire with healing abilities, night vision, super strength & attracts "skinwalkers", evil Navajo who shape shift into lethal predators and can smell nightwalkers. Female FBI agent enters story. It was just not that engaging altho the premises were good, the potential was not fulfilled. I enjoyed the Thurlo's Ellah Clah series much, much more. Won't be continuing this series.

[Kirsten · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well so far this month my audiobooks have really stunk! This one especially. It felt like a dated read. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was written in 2004. I thought maybe 1970. Thought i was getting a police procedural. Got a book about revenge.
The worst part? This was a good reads recommended author for me. What?! Questioning this seriously.

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was alright. It had a wacky premise in the fact that it is about vampires who are nazi's who are after plutonium and all that stands between them and their goal is a half-vampire lawman who in turn is being stalked by skinwalkers. It was not the cheesy over the top fun I was hoping for, but it was kind of entertaining.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting 1st novel - A Dine (Navajo) policeman is turned to a vampire, and essentially the book is a supernatural mystery/thriller story. I was very engaged, and will definitely read the next book in the series!

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the characters and the plot, but thought that the story should have been a lot more exciting, jazzier. I will read #2 in the series and see if there is an improvement.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. I always like learning about the Navajo traditions. Not sure the vampire theme will hold my attention, it's a bit too far out there for me. (Lee Nez series)

[Eileen Lynx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and exciting story about a Navajo vampire! Who would have thought?

[Kathy Kathy Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Bryn Greenwood]

This is my inaugural entry to my new shelf: Not every book is for everybody. When I write a less than flattering review on a book I didn't finish, I feel badly. I think, well, I couldn't even bother to finish it, how do I dare rate it? So from here on, I'll simply remark on why the book wasn't for me.

I love the premise here--Navajo vampires. We need diverse vampires.

However, I found the authorial tone way too explanatory. I get that not everyone has personal knowledge/experience of Navajo customs, but I do not enjoy having things over-explained to me, when I'm perfectly capable of doing some investigative learning on my own. I actually like looking things up.

That excessively explanatory tone wasn't just reserved for cultural stuff. Characters' motivations and reasonings were often over-explained as well.

So, cool premise, but ultimately, this book was not for me.

[Vickie]

This is a super page turner! I just about finished it in one sitting, thanks to a mellow shift at work and nothing of interest on TV. This is why I carry a book with me in my purse at all times. Ya just never know when that blend comes along and you need a very good book to rescue you.

This one did the trick. It is a vampire book, but it is also a well written police mystery. A very good combo. Highly recommended.

[Ebster Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this one on audibles in attempt to listen to it with my grandma (she loves this series and suggested it, and since she can't see well enough to read amymore I thought we could listen to it together). Unfortunately everytime I would try to listen to it she turns on the TV loud. That was kind of a bummber.

The story was still good, and I really like Lee Nez/Hawk as a character. Diane has some cheesy lines, but that's probably just a result of her role in the story.

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. I found the protaganist, a Navajo unwilling vampire fighting navajo skinwalkers/shapechangers intriguing. I enjoyed the relationship between the protaganist and his "sidekick", a female, strong-willed and ambitious FBI agent interesting. I've already requested a 2nd book in this series from my library.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

On my 2nd attempt, I finished. For some reason, I just couldn't get into it the first time.
After visiting the Navajo (Dineh) nation in Utah at Monument Valley, it was fun to read and relate to the culture and the scenery of this land in the book.
This is a vampire take with an American Indian twist. Interesting, but not sure if I'll continue in the series.

[Bonnie Drummond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vampires and Skin Walkers beware of ( The Night Walker New Mexico State Police Officer Lee Nez ) "half vampire half human and an attractive FBI Agent Diane Lopez, who's out to kick ass of the Vampire who killed her partner they make a hell of a team. They get the job done and save themselves and the world. Read if you want to find out what happened. I give this book 100% of all time.

[KDawn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish it. Who names a major character Hans Gruber? I kept waiting for a Die Hard reference (to no avail) and I guess I am just not a fan of vampire books regardless of the setting. Whoever compared the books to Hillerman's books was sorely mistaken. Nothing like it. It's a shame. The writing was actually pretty good.

[Tressa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Second Sunrise. I liked the setting, background, and characters. I thought it was interesting. I was also amused by one of the character’s names. It was a little repetitive in explaining some items, but it wasn’t always the same repetition – it was always slightly different, but the same info. I plan on continuing the series.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Native American policeman Lee Nez interrupts an attempted hijacking of a sensitive military cargo by a German vampire and spy and his bitten. Half cured he reatins mush of the vampiore curse. He attempts to find the military cargo that he hid and elimanate vampires and skinwalkers.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was well written overall. There was good character development as well. I just didn't buy into the story as much as I thought I would. This is probably my favorite genre currently but I just couldn't get into it.

[Vic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just alright. While there were vampires (including main character - a police officer)it didn't really have a UF feel to it. After it was over, I just kind of felt blah about it. Not sure I will listen to the next one.