book review hell and back

Ryan Steck's The Real Book Spy

Full coverage of all your favorite thriller authors, and their characters, unlike anywhere else on the web , a book spy review: ‘hell and back’ by craig johnson.

Craig Johnson opens the 18th book in his bestselling series with Absaroka County Sherif Walt Longmire waking up in the middle of a frozen street, unable to remember who he is or where he’s it. Quickly, it’s revealed that Walt is in Fort Pratt, Montana, a town made famous from tragedy after thirty young Native boys died in a boarding school fire more than a hundred and twenty-five years ago. Stranger yet is Walt’s inability to remember why he’s covered in blood, or why he’s missing a single bullet from his gun. A friendly waitress at a nearby cafe helps him with a few details, mainly his name, but the story takes a mystical turn when Walt believes to have been transported back to 1986.

Meanwhile, in Absaroka, the two people closest to Walt, Victoria Moretti and Henry Standing Bear, go searching for the missing sheriff. But they, like readers, will first have to figure out if Walt really has somehow been transported back to the past . . . or if he’s having a psychotic breakdown.

Craig Johson deserves plenty of credit for taking such a bold approach here. What makes this story work, ultimately, is the fearless plotting that—as things begin to unfold—shakes out to be a real treat for longtime fans of the series. It’s those readers, primarily, who will devour Hell and Back , which features a number of characters that new readers won’t recognize or fully appreciate. That said, newcomers might not realize just how different the tone of this book is from past entries, whereas Johnson’s faithful may be caught slightly off guard by how far this story deviates from the investigative procedurals he’s typically turned in. That isn’t a knock on the book at all, and again, kudos to Johnson for shaking it up a bit, just be careful not to expect the same old story here—and once you know what, Johnson’s talent is on full display and impossible to miss.

Without giving anything away, the resurgence in popularity of the modern-day western, thanks in part to television shows like Yellowstone , has led to the market being saturated with authors trying their hand at plotting around the wild west to take advantage of the market. Johnson, along with C.J. Box, still remains the gold standard, and in this book, he flashes so much of why readers love this setting and the cowboy way, hitting on themes like justice and outlaws while mixing in a healthy dose of character development. The focus on Walt’s mental health, for example, proves that even as he nears twenty books, Johnson has plenty of tricks to keep his series fresh and evolving. The only real question is, what will he do next?

Daring, fast-paced, and overflowing with twists and misdirection, Craig Johnson’s Hell and Back is unlike anything his readers have seen from him before.

Book Details

Author: Craig Johnson Series : Longmore #18 Pages: 352 (Hardcover) ISBN : ‎ 10593297288 Publisher : ‎ Viking Release Date: September 6, 2022 Real Book Spy Rating : 8.5/10

Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor and co-hosts the ThrillerTalk podcast when he’s not streaming and hanging out with his growing community on Twitch . His debut thriller, FIELDS OF FIRE , which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “ will leave you speechless and begging for more,” comes out on September 6, 2022. For more information, be sure to follow him on Twitter and Facebook .

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Submitting a book for review, write the editor, you are here:, hell and back: a longmire mystery.

• About the Book

A new novel in the beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series.

What if you woke up lying in the middle of the street in the infamous town of Fort Pratt, Montana, where 30, young Native boys perished in a tragic 1896 boarding school fire? What if every person you encountered in that endless night was dead? What if you were covered in blood and missing a bullet from the gun holstered on your hip? What if there was something out there in the yellowed skies --- along with the deceased and the smell of ash and dust --- something the Northern Cheyenne refer to as the Éveohtsé-heómėse, the Wandering Without, the Taker of Souls? What if the only way you know who you are is because your name is printed in the leather sweatband of your cowboy hat, and what if it says your name is Walt Longmire --- but you don’t remember him?

In HELL AND BACK, the 18th installment of the Longmire series, author Craig Johnson takes the beloved sheriff to the very limits of his sanity to do battle with the most dangerous advisory he’s ever faced --- himself.

Hell and Back: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson

• Publication Date: September 5, 2023
• Genres: Fiction , Mystery
• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• ISBN-10: 059329730X
• ISBN-13: 9780593297308

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A Man Goes Face-to-Face with the Dead to Save a Life in This Haunting Western Mystery

Hell and Back by Craig Johnson

Craig Johnson consistently, intelligently and with customary dry humor, melds literary fiction with western crime fiction as Sheriff Walt Longmire rides the Wyoming High Plains range in the pickup truck he calls “Silver Bullet,” delivering justice.

Hell and Back ( Viking ), his 18th novel in the Longmire series, opens with a dazed, amnesia-stricken Walt lying flat on his back in the middle of a snow-covered, two-lane road. Around his neck is a lightweight red scarf he last saw on the ghostly apparition of a deceased and still missing girl named Jeannie One Moon. Higher on the same hill is an arch proclaiming “Fort Pratt Industrial Indian Boarding School,” but nothing remains of the school except a massive, metal bell. The befuddled sheriff is somewhere close to Montana’s border with Canada, many miles and several hours from his jurisdiction in Absaroka County. He is wounded, bleeding from his side and barely conscious with a great-horned owl staring down at him. His truck has been smashed into a snow bank by a 5-ton snowplow.

Walt is down a rabbit hole in a netherworld where time is permanently suspended at 8:17 PM and signs and symbols abound. The ghost town ahead is populated with dead souls and a handful of living, most of whom are pursuing him. The number 31 is seen everywhere and is the only habitable room in the Baker Hotel. It’s up to Sheriff Longmire to remember who he is, why he drove there and which beings are benevolent or malevolent, whether among the living or dead. He is in for the fight of his life. “Stay calm, have courage and wait for signs” has never been more meaningful.

A CONTINUATION OF DAUGHTER OF THE MORNING STAR (VIKING)

Hell and Back could rightfully be considered the second half of the novel which began with Daughter of the Morning Star . The author has discussed the connection between the two books, and I suggest fans at least skim through it to refresh their memories before diving into Hell and Back .

It is a surreal departure for a Craig Johnson plot to delve so deeply into the supernatural otherworld and to have two Longmire books linked so closely within the same time frame. Daughter of the Morning Star centers on the shocking plight of Indigenous women who are subjected to violence and sexual abuse. They number among missing and murdered at disproportionately higher rates than non-native women. Jeannie One Moon was last seen in the company of known White Supremacists. Walt Longmire hears her spirit voice’s lamentations. Her family fears she was pulled into the legendary Éveohtsé-heómėse ; the wandering lost Cheyenne equivalent of a Boogeyman who hungers for the living and will remain in this limbo until her body is found.

Before her father, Jimmy Lane, is arrested for avenging her death, he hands Walt a postcard with the lettering, “Fort Pratt and Industrial Indian Boarding School” and the number 31 circled on the back and on the front, a slightly blurred sepia-toned photograph of 30 young native boys in uniforms and caps with one smaller boy in the foreground.

The last page of Daughter of the Morning Star ends with Walt’s statements, ‘I guess I’ve got a good seven hours of driving ahead of me, and ‘If I get going, I should be there sometime around daybreak.’ Hell and Back clearly resumes that story.

QUESTIONS OF GOOD AND EVIL ARISE

Walt hovers for two days between life and death, wandering in and out of recurring visions among the long dead, and manages to intervene to change the course of history and right a century-old wrong. He must thwart living sworn enemies and an escaped convict wielding shotguns, side arms and lethal knives, as well as confront the embodiment of a legendary Cheyenne evil spirit on par with J.K. Rowling’s Voldemort while not knowing if he, Walt, is already dead.

The cavalry arrives in the form of Henry Standing Bear, aka “The Cheyenne Nation,” his canine companion “Dog,” Undersheriff and ladylove Vic Moretti and the pull of the vague remembrance of his brilliant attorney daughter, Cady, and her precious two-year-old daughter, his only grandchild, as well as good spirits who have passed before. Discerning which force is good and which is evil may be the biggest challenge in the career and life of this human — and not superhero — Wyoming sheriff.

JOHNSON ADDRESSES NATIVE HISTORY AND GENOCIDE

Craig Johnson specifically puts Walt Longmire in situations that address social injustices. He has stated, “I tend to refer to it as the ‘Burr-Under-the-Saddle-Blanket School of Literature. That burr under the saddle blanket is there, I can feel it and the horse can feel it, neither of us like it.”

A component of Hell and Back is the exposure of the institutionalized cultural genocide in the form of government or church-sponsored Indian Boarding Schools that endured for nearly a century. In 1879 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Brigadier General Richard Henry Pratt established and became the superintendent of the first off-reservation boarding school for Native Americans, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Prior to this, beginning in the 1860s, native children were educated in schools on their home reservations. Pratt’s goal was Americanization or civilization by cultural assimilation with the motto, “Kill the Indian to save the man.” Eventually, there were over 400 Indian Boarding Schools in the west, and the Carlisle School in Pennsylvania which closed in 1918. Hundreds of thousands of Native American children were removed, sometimes forcibly, from their homes and tribes.

Upon arrival at the schools, their hair was cut and their cherished heritage possessions and native dress were seized and swapped for uniforms provided. Then the children were renamed with European first and last names. They were forbidden to speak their tribal languages, forced to speak the unfamiliar sounding English language and punished if they disobeyed. They were stripped of traditions including familiar foods, converted to Christianity and taught history from the white man’s perspective.

In the better schools, they were given a sound education grounded in reading, writing and arithmetic and taught trades. However, as federal funding diminished and the schools needed to be self-sufficient, less time was spent on formal education. However, the schools were permitted to “lend out” the boys as laborers or field hands, and girls were sent to private homes to work as kitchen helpers, laundresses, maids or seamstresses with their pay going to the schools. This was tantamount to slavery as many never were able to return home. They were ravaged by white man’s diseases; some were routinely beaten, accidentally killed or murdered.

In recent years, more than 53 burial sites have been found to date near the schools with predominantly unmarked graves containing the remains of thousands of these children. The system ended in 1978. There are four boarding schools that remain but under enlightened conditions of thorough, college-bound education and a curriculum that includes native language, cultural lessons and traditional artisan crafts.

VIVID SETTINGS OF FICTIONAL TOWNS

Don’t bother to attempt to map the coordinates for Durant, Absaroka County, adjacent to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation near the Powder and Bitterroot Rivers, or Fort Pratt, Montana as they are fictional settings. But the descriptions are so clearly painted with words that one can imagine the stark, vast beauty of the Wyoming prairies contrasted with the rugged mountain range.

Craig Johnson has also shifted much of the Cheyenne and Crow Nations south from Montana into Wyoming to suit the Longmire storylines. The author’s respect for his adopted land and its inhabitants shines through in his work.

A WINNER AMONG WESTERN FICTION

It may surprise some to know that Craig Johnson is a native West Virginian, born and reared in Huntington, and educated at Marshall and Temple Universities with degrees in English and Creative Writing. He has resided in Wyoming for most of his adult life and worked a wide variety of jobs including teaching college courses before The Cold Dish debuted when he was 43.

Johnson is not as imposing physically as his fictional creation, the larger-than-life, broad-shouldered, muscular Sheriff Walt Longmire, but is at least equally as fascinating. His breadth of knowledge and the meticulous attention to detail adhered to in crafting, rewriting, and polishing his novels and their sheer readability puts him among the great western writers like Wallace Stegner, Ivan Doig, Norman Maclean, and John McPhee.

How can one not stand up and cheer for an author who when queried about the growing controversy about banned books in schools and libraries, says, “If it’s banned, read it” (Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Will Carpenter)? Hell and Back is a stand-out work. So read it, before it’s banned!

About Craig Johnson :

Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series, Longmire . He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction, and his novella, Spirit of Steamboat, was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population: 26.

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Linda Hitchcock

Linda Hitchcock is a native Virginian who relocated to a small farm in rural Kentucky with her beloved husband, John, 14 years ago. She’s a lifelong, voracious reader and a library advocate who volunteers with her local Friends of the Library organization as well as the Friends of Kentucky Library board. She’s a member of the National Book Critic’s Circle, Glasgow Musicale and DAR. Linda began her writing career as a technical and business writer for a major West Coast-based bank and later worked in the real estate marketing and advertising sphere. She writes weekly book reviews for her local county library and Glasgow Daily Times and has contributed to Bowling Green Living Magazine, BookBrowse.com, BookTrib.com, the Barren County Progress newspaper and SOKY Happenings among other publications. She also serves as a volunteer publicist for several community organizations. In addition to reading and writing, Linda enjoys cooking, baking, flower and vegetable gardening, and in non-pandemic times, attending as many cultural events and author talks as time permits.

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The Crimson Books

Hell and Back A Longmire Mystery

Synopsis of Hell and Back A Longmire Mystery

What would you do if you woke up in the middle of the street in Fort Pratt, Montana, where 30 Native American boys perished in a boarding school fire in 1896? Imagine if, during the night, you ran into nothing but corpses. What would you do if your pants were soaked in blood and your rifle was empty?

What if the Northern Cheyenne are right and there is something out there in the yellowed skies, along with the dead and the smell of ash and dust, something they call the Éveohtsé-heómse, the Wandering Without, the Taker of Souls?

What if the name embroidered in the leather sweatband of your cowboy hat is the only way you know who you are, and that name is Walt Longmire… but you don’t remember him?

In the latest Longmire novel, Hell and Back, author Craig Johnson pushes the popular lawman to the breaking point as he fights his most formidable foe yet: himself.

Book Review of Hell and Back A Longmire Mystery

Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, can’t make sense of what just transpired. He doesn’t know how he got bloodied by a snowplough or why he’s got a battered cowboy hat with the name “Longmire” scrawled on the inside.

He chats to locals in the little village, still a little shocked and bewildered after the disaster, but their answers only serve to deepen the mystery. What the heck happened, and why was he even here?

Related Post: Land of Wolves A Longmire Mystery

HELL AND BACK is the eighteenth book in Craig Johnson’s Walt Longmire Mystery Series (now a Netflix TV series), and Johnson is a critically regarded and New York Times bestselling author. HELL AND BACK is a fantastic and intense tale, a suitable and harrowing sequel to his previous novel, DAUGHTER OF THE MORNING STAR.

This story is an incredible homage to the Indigenous children who suffered so much at the hands of the people who ran the Residential Schools in North America.

You will share Walt’s shock and confusion at what is happening and why he is where he is from the very first page. Changes in scenery and cryptic responses from characters aren’t making it any easier for anyone to figure out what’s going on or who Walt truly is.

Walt realizes in his mind’s constantly shifting scene that he is in Fort Pratt and the year is 1896, but why is the number 31 significant to him?

The most effective way to make the reader feel the pain and anguish faced by Walt and the young Cheyenne boys as he tries to help them while also grappling with the very powerful Éveohsé-heómése, the Wandering Without, the Taker of Souls, is to have the reader enter the tumultuous landscape of Walt’s mind and experience the events he endures.

HELL AND BACK is potent medicine, and I think that new readers would benefit greatly from reading a few of the earlier mysteries, particularly DAUGHTER OF THE MORNING STAR, before diving into HELL AND BACK, in order to get the fullest possible appreciation of the novel and the richest possible reading experience.

Fans of the series like myself will enjoy following the heroic quest of Henry Standing Bear and Victoria Moretti as they search desperately for their lost Sheriff.

Whether you’re a die-hard follower or you just enjoy a good puzzle, HELL AND BACK is a fantastic book. This voyage, while challenging and frightening, is absolutely captivating.

Disclaimer: This blog post may contain affiliate links. If you click on these links and make a purchase, The Crimson Books may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

About the Author

James Robinson is a voracious reader who has been captivated by the magic of books since childhood.

With a background in journalism, he has honed his skills in writing insightful and engaging book reviews.

James has a particular interest in historical fiction and non-fiction, delving into the pages of the past to uncover intriguing stories and perspectives.

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Book review: ‘Hell and Back’ is no ordinary trip

Craig Johnson’s “Longmire” series already has built a huge following of fans on Netflix, but his latest novel about the stoic sheriff also has the feel of another popular series on the same streaming service, “Stranger Things.”

In “Hell and Back,” Walt Longmire finds himself in his own upside-down world, where parts seem familiar but are oh so out of whack with reality. That sets up an interesting adventure that will certainly appeal to Johnson’s longtime fans.

And Johnson obviously has enough to keep a publisher asking for more, banging out installments about Longmire like a newspaper reporter on deadline. Except for a year’s rest after the first Longmire novel, “A Cold Dish” in 2004, Johnson has pushed out at least one a year, sometimes two and even three in 2013. Viking, it seems, can’t keep printing Longmire books long enough.

I must admit I have not read any of the other Longmire books, nor have I watched the series, and purposely didn’t when I found out I’d be reading and reviewing this one. I wanted to view it with fresh eyes. Reading this at least makes me want to check out the TV series.

“Hell and Back” finds Longmire looking to be on his last leg, struggling through a story of haunted hearts, where ghosts keep the sheriff searching for answers the biggest one being, “Am I dead?”

The book opens with Walt waking up a bloody wreck in a snowstorm what may be Montana, may be Wyoming, not remembering who he is or how he got there. Amnesia becomes his biggest nemesis. Interesting characters pop in and out of existence, prodding Longmire’s memory. While the supporting cast would flesh out the book, this is obviously Longmire’s story and everyone else is just there to drive his narrative.

While Longmire is not sure who he is, everyone else knows him.

“You’re our only hope,” the barkeep with the Spanish accent tells Longmire in the small town where people die but no one seems to stay dead.

Johnson can also turn some clever phrases as he sends Longmire time traveling to a Native American boarding school that had burned down a century before, but which comes to life as the sheriff wanders through a broken gate.

“The floors were green and white tiles worn to shade of institutional neglect,” Johnson writes, “many of them broken with pieces swept to the painted baseboards like parts of jigsaw puzzles never to be joined.”

The narrative combines Longmire’s plight with those in a real world trying to find the missing sheriff who seems to have fallen through a portal of time and space. Johnson has a knack for writing action scenes for his hero, who seems to be a cross between Sam Spade and Marshall Matt Dillon, as he keeps the reader moving along toward an ending that’s neither unexpected nor surprising.

But this book will keep Longmire fans coming back for more – if there is more. Johnson provides hints that this might be Longmire’s last mission, as the old body has seen better days and gets battered up a bit more in these chapters.

Then again, Johnson has written two more books since finishing “Next to Last Stand.”

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Hell and Back

Craig johnson. viking, $28 (352p) isbn 978-0-593-29728-5.

Reviewed on: 07/07/2022

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Compact Disc - 979-8-200-97979-0

Library Binding - 494 pages - 979-8-88578-548-8

MP3 CD - 979-8-200-97980-6

Paperback - 352 pages - 978-0-593-29730-8

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Featured Mystery/Thriller Reviews

Hell and Back

A longmire mystery.

• 3.9 • 600 Ratings

Publisher Description

The eighteenth novel in the beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series. What if you woke up lying in the middle of the street in the infamous town of Fort Pratt, Montana, where thirty young Native boys perished in a tragic 1896 boarding-school fire? What if every person you encountered in that endless night was dead? What if you were covered in blood and missing a bullet from the gun holstered on your hip? What if there was something out there in the yellowed skies, along with the deceased and the smell of ash and dust, something the Northern Cheyenne refer to as the Éveohtsé-heómėse, the Wandering Without, the Taker of Souls? What if the only way you know who you are is because your name is printed in the leather sweatband of your cowboy hat, and what if it says your name is Walt Longmire . . . but you don’t remember him? In Hell and Back , the eighteenth installment of the Longmire series, author Craig Johnson takes the beloved sheriff to the very limits of his sanity to do battle with the most dangerous adversary he’s ever faced: himself.

APPLE BOOKS REVIEW

A dogged sheriff can’t remember who he is in this haunting whodunit. Walt Longmire doesn’t actually know he’s Walt Longmire when he wakes up battered and bloody in the middle of a strange small town. But soon, he’s drawn into the Twin Peaks–like place, full of suspicious townies that aren’t half as scary as the community’s abandoned boarding school for Native American boys. This book in Craig Johnson’s long-running Walt Longmire series is steeped in a surreal blend of indigenous lore and Western gothic gloom. We appreciated the otherworldly settings as Walt bounces between past and present, unraveling the mystery of this unusual place and his own identity. Hold on tightly as Longmire fights an enemy that may not be of this world.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY JUL 25, 2022

At the outset of bestseller Johnson's solid if surreal 18th Walt Longmire mystery (after 2021's Daughter of the Morning Star ), the Absaroka County, Wyo., sheriff wakes up in the middle of a snowy street, part of his sheepskin coat frozen to the ground. He has no idea who he is or how he ended up in Fort Pratt, Mont., or why he's covered in blood with a bullet missing from his gun. Walt only learns his name when a waitress at a deserted café points out that it's printed in his cowboy hat's sweatband. Then, in a mystical turn, he's transported back to 1896, when 31 Native American boys died in a fire that destroyed Fort Pratt's Industrial Indian Boarding School. Meanwhile, Walt's undersheriff, Victoria Moretti, and friend Henry Standing Bear go looking for him. This departure from the usual straightforward police procedural centers on Walt's emotional health, keeping the reader wondering whether his fugue state is amnesia or insanity. Longtime fans will relish Johnson's new insights into Walt's character, though this isn't the place to start for newcomers.

Customer Reviews

Reading this series for so long now,I feel like I am on a adventure with old friends. Walt, Bear and Vic are great characters and I’m always excited for a new book.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY LIKED THIS AUTHOR AND HIS STORI

HIS STORIES KEEP ME IN SAFE COMPANY. I REALLY LOVE HIS CHARACTER’S. HIS FAMILY, BIG BEAR AND VIC ARE SOOO GOOD. I’m HAPPY THAT WALT IS SURROUNDED BY PEOPLE THAT REALLY CARE AND LOVE HIM. THANK YOU SOOO MUCH CRAIG !!!

I expected this book become interesting at some point. Nah.

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A combination of factors may push this into fast selling ranks, but I confess to still having fingers crossed on personal...

READ REVIEW

TO HELL AND BACK

by Audie Murphy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1949

A combination of factors may push this into fast selling ranks, but I confess to still having fingers crossed on personal war memoirs. But here are the factors. Audie Murphy was winner of more medals than any other GI. He's made the grade- but by a rocky road of poverty and idealism- in Hollywood. His first picture, Bad Boy is soon to be released, and feature stories have a bonanza in him....But- and this is the most important factor of all, To Hell and Back is an extraordinarily vivid piece of authentic personal experience which immortalizes the boys who didn't make it back from the beaches of Anzio and Salerno, the cross France race, the Colmar Pocket, and so on. Blood- guts- and genitals- and more than a generous savoring of heart. Strong meat, but those who could take The Naked and the Dead will recognize this as convincingly authentic, undramatized source material. Holt i putting a lot behind it.

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1949

ISBN: 0805070869

Page Count: -

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1949

Categories: NONFICTION

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Hell and Back Kindle Edition

The eighteenth novel in Craig Johnson's beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series - now a hit Netflix show!

• Book 18 of 21 Walt Longmire Mysteries
• Print length 336 pages
• Language English
• Publisher Orion
• Publication date November 24, 2022
• File size 1405 KB
• Page Flip Enabled
• Word Wise Enabled
• Enhanced typesetting Enabled
• See all details

Shop this series

• First 3 $43.17
• First 5 $67.57
• First 10 $141.68
• All 20 available $289.82

This option includes 3 books.

This option includes 5 books., this option includes 10 books., this option includes 20 books..

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Editorial Reviews

About the author, excerpt. © reprinted by permission. all rights reserved., product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0B7RB8SZ4
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Orion (November 24, 2022)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 24, 2022
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 1405 KB
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
• Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0593297288
• #14,082 in Crime Thrillers (Kindle Store)
• #18,759 in Murder Thrillers
• #65,543 in Mysteries (Kindle Store)

About the author

Craig johnson.

Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction, the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award for fiction, the Nouvel Observateur Prix du Roman Noir, and the Prix SNCF du Polar. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 25.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 54% 19% 13% 6% 7% 54%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 54% 19% 13% 6% 7% 19%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 54% 19% 13% 6% 7% 13%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 54% 19% 13% 6% 7% 6%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 54% 19% 13% 6% 7% 7%

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.

To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.

Customers say

Customers find the book entertaining, thrilling, and enthralling. They appreciate the great characters and the empathy of the protagonist. Opinions are mixed on readability, story quality, and writing quality. Some find the plot incredible and thought-provoking, while others say it's disjointed and difficult to follow at first.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Customers find the book entertaining, thrilling, and captivating. They say it keeps them enthralled from the beginning. Readers also mention the story is thought-provoking and has lots of action.

"This is definitely one of Craig Johnson’s best novels. it was exciting and also a bit confusing that all tied in as you went along...." Read more

"...- creating a great western story line, plot, with his usual riveting dialog and dry wit . I have no trouble with a bit of Mysticism and Indian lore...." Read more

"I just finished this and thoroughly enjoyed it . This one seems to have been polarizing looking at the reviews...." Read more

"...stories, and everyone is true to character and appears here… rewarding good read ." Read more

Customers find the characters great. They say the book includes characters from prior stories and is wonderfully tempered by the protagonist's empathy.

"...attraction of Craig Johnson’s series, but it is wonderfully tempered by the protagonist Longmire’s empathy and fascinating ability to see beyond the..." Read more

"...He is superb with dialog, character development , imagery and background...." Read more

"...It’s completely different than the other books, yet includes characters from prior stories . Craig Johnson has done an excellent job here." Read more

"...The regular cast of characters is there , as well as some you may have to work hard to remember. If you do, the story will be somewhat richer...." Read more

Customers find the book riveting.

"... They're that riveting ...." Read more

"...Usually I read Johnson’s books in a day because they are so engrossing ...." Read more

"This book was scarey in a way that made it riveting . I could not put it down...." Read more

"I have read every one of the Longmire books! They are all spellbinding , but each one seems to get more haunting...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the readability of the book. Some mention it's a great page-turner and worth every word. Others say it's boring, frustrating, and difficult to finish.

"...This was good, but seemed long in getting to the punch .But, hey - he sells a lot more books than I do!" Read more

"“Hell and Back” was excellent ...." Read more

"I’ve read all the Longmire books and loved them. This one I struggled to finish . Confusing, too many moving parts, plots, characters. Hard to follow...." Read more

"...Otherwise, Hell and Back is a great read with a climax worthy of Stephen King!" Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the story quality. Some find it thrilling, thought-provoking, and amazing. However, others say the story is disjointed, difficult to follow at first, and not an interesting police saga.

"...Definitely different but a great story nonetheless" Read more

"...will probably leave one feeling confused and believing the story is disjointed ...." Read more

"...had his usual brand of mystery with more detailed and sometimes chilling looks into history as well as Native American experience and belief...." Read more

"This is a great story but unlike the rest of the series you should read the title previous, Daughter of the Morning Star...." Read more

Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book. Some mention it's great, comfortable to read, and perfect. Others say it's hard to follow, frustrating, confusing, and disjointed.

"...This one I struggled to finish. Confusing , too many moving parts, plots, characters. Hard to follow. Disappointed." Read more

"...Even if you accept the premise, the writing was random and haphazard and the story disjointed and inconsistent. Like a bad cartoon...." Read more

"...This was a whole new twist on Craig’s incredible writing talent ...." Read more

"I love Longmire but this is hard to read and set in a different time. The history of the Indian Schools gives it depth. And Vic makes it real." Read more

Customers find the book too short. They say it's not for beginners and the story is confusing.

"...Once again, it is a great book, but it is not for Longmire beginners ." Read more

"...It doesn’t work.This is not a Sheriff Walt Longmire book in the mold of the many excellent ones that made the series so memorable and enjoyable..." Read more

"...The lack of continuity didn't help ...." Read more

"...The only bad thing I have to say is how I wish it was a little longer !" Read more

Customers find the book too weird and ephemeral for their tastes. They also say it misses the mark.

"...But this one, well it was just . . . weird. Too weird for my tastes ...." Read more

"This one was just okay. A little too ephemeral for my tastes . I was also upset that there have been 4 books since BIDARTE took Candy and the baby...." Read more

"Another great Walt Longmire mystery. A little freaky , but very good. I really enjoy the native American culture in these stories." Read more

"...the stories, but recent books, with little exception, are missing the mark for my taste ; we need as fans the real Sheriff Longmire to return...." Read more

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