Tony Hillerman, Shape Shifter (2006).
GoodReads meta-data is 276 pages, rated 4.03 by 9151 litizens
Genre: Krimie.
DNA: Navajo.
Tagline: The first shall be last.
Verdict: School’s out.
A neat plot buried under a weight of exposition. The shape shifter idea is cleverly used, but it would have read better without fifty pages of explanation, comparison, and pedantry in the middle.
Because of that expository snowdrift, the villain is, to this reader, undercooked. Quite why such a master of malice as this would stoop to robbing a desert convenience store, or display and allow to be photographed for publication some of his ill gotten gains did not make sense. Would Moriaty knock over a 7/Eleven? Would Fantomas invite a journalist to photograph the stolen crown jewels and publish the picture?
No 18 in the series.