Dance for the Dead

Jane Whitefield: 2

ISBN: 0804114250 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com

A very good continuation of the Jane Whitefield series started in Vanishing Act: a taut mystery suspense plot with good characters.

Reviewed by David on June 06, 1998

Genre: Mystery (Suspense, Amerind)

Synopsis: Jane Whitefield, a Seneca woman helping fugitives to hide, is back for another installment. This time, the victim is a young boy with a large inheritance, and someone is eager to declare him legally dead. A seemingly unrelated request to hide an embezzler from some shakedown artists turns much tougher than Jane anticipated. This time Jane tangles with a villain more resourceful and ruthless than ever before, and once more she has to turn from hiding to combat.

Full Review: Jane Whitefield, first introduced in the excellent Vanishing Act, is an American Indian woman who has an unusual profession—she helps people on the run disappear. She is a master at creating false identities, changing appearance, habits, etc. A private witness relocation program, so to speak.

This time, her client is a 8-year-old boy with a large trust fund. Someone is eager to declare him dead, and will not be deterred by a few human lives standing in the way.

Jane does her usual competent job, but the cost of guarding the boy turns out much higher than anticipated. Not confident in the law's protection, she tries to find out who will benefit from the boy's death.

A seemingly unrelated case of an woman embezzler on the run appears to be pretty boring. Jane does not sympathize with the fugitive much, until she realizes that the shakedown criminals after the woman are extremely determined and well-organized. The shape of the enemy starts to appear, and he seems both ruthless and have almost unlimited resources, both within the law and outside it.

Soon Jane is desperate to keep not only her clients safe, but her own skin in one piece.

The main character is marvelous; the combination of competence, intelligence and compassion make Jane an unusual, but highly attractive hero. The other characters are also well drawn, especially the woman embezzler. The evil forces are, as usual, motivated by their greed, and make a worthy foil for Jane's talents. The pace is often breathless. In the latter portion of the book, the author uses several points of view, which add to the story, but jar the pace slightly. Vanishing Act is a hard act to follow, but this novel succeeds very well.

A paperback version of Dance for the Dead is also available.

Overall: 7; Plot: 7; Characters: 7; Style: 6; World-building: 5; Originality: 6;

ISBN: 0804114250 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com