Hell and Back

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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“Something wrong?”

“I'm not sure, but I'm thinking I might’ve screwed things up.”

“How?”

“The way you always do, by doing a good deed.”

WHAT'S HELL AND BACK ABOUT?

Recently, Walt has across repeated references to Fort Pratt—a military base and a school for natives there. Neither Walt nor Henry had heard of this place before, and it made him curious—he did a little looking and asking around about it and found one person who knew something.

And now...Walt wakes up in the middle of the street in that town. He doesn't know who he is, or what he's doing there, and keeps running into people he vaguely recognizes (or thinks he should) and readers do. Then he finds himself witnessing events surrounding that school's destruction by fire—which killed the 31 boys living there.

Meanwhile, Henry Standing Bear and Vic are trying to track down Walt. He's been on the hunt for a suspect in a murder and hasn't checked in for a while—they get to the area he was last known to be and find some disturbing signs, but no Walt.

While they look for Walt, our favorite sheriff and the reader have to figure out where he is and why—and does it have anything to do with the Éveohtsé-heómėse, the Wandering Without, that Walt encountered in the last book?

HMMM...

I wanted to give a section focusing on each of our main trio of characters—or at least the two main storylines. And I can't. Anything I say would divulge so much of the plot/mechanics of the novel that I'd ruin something.

So why am I spending time talking about this? 1. I don't want it to look like I'm harping on just one point (see the next section) and 2. to make a point—these threads are so tightly woven in this book that to look at any of them, you have to look at how it all plays out—from beginning to ending. Don't decide—or try to decide—what you think of anything until the ending—you'll be wasting time and effort.

IS CRAIG JOHNSON TAKING A STAND?

A mixture of native Spirituality (beliefs, practices, and possible occurrences) have been around since the beginning of this series as a constant, but emphasized in books like Hell is Empty and last year's Daughter of the Morning Star. But the novels have never really taken a stand on whether a spiritual entity/entities or powers are interacting with Walt and others or whether that's one possible interpretation—and maybe Walt was hallucinating/dreaming due to physical injury, mental exhaustion, hypothermia, etc.

It really seems like Walt believes it's true in the moment (sometimes he has to be convinced), but then brushes it away. Although a couple of times, I thought it was Henry who suggests an alternate explanation—Vic never seems to give a mystical idea any precedence.

If only for the amount of this book that appears not to transpire in our world, I think that Johnson's not really pretending to be neutral anymore. Even Walt's "but maybe..." take seemed halfhearted.

I think I'm fine with it—if only so we don't have to have this discussion so often within the books. As long as Johnson isn't trying to veer into Urban Fantasy or anything (and I don't think he is), go for it. Let Walt be convinced by his experience, embrace them, and move forward that way. At least let him wrestle with it, not just brush it away.

Now, if Vic starts seeing Virgil White Buffalo or something like him...that might be a problem.

SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT HELL AND BACK?

In his Acknowledgements, Johnson says he attempted to create "a Western, gothic-romance with traces of horror." "Traces" is a good word—it's just a hint, like the hint of whatever fruit a particular can of La Croix tells you it has (maybe a little heavier). The rest seems like a good description of the result—I guess I'm not sold on "if" he should've tried, or at least tried in this way. I don't want this series to turn into a bunch of cookie-cutter novels about Walt and the gang solving mysteries at home or in a nearby county. But...not all experiments are successful.

I'm torn. I enjoyed this, I like that Johnson is constantly trying to keep each novel from being a duplicate of a previous one and trying to do new things with well-established characters. I thought the ideas were great, I appreciate that Johnson wants to discuss things like the horrible conditions and events in "Indian schools."

But I think this was a lousy Walt Longmire book. There were some strong character moments for Vic and Henry (and a moment or two that I'm not so sure about for each). I don't think it was a good use of the character of Walt Longmire or the kind of story that's good for the series. There are a couple of things that could spring from this for future books, but I think Johnson probably could've gotten there a different way.

Yes, I'm prepared to eat my words in that last sentence, but I feel pretty safe about it.

This was a good follow-up to the previous book, but it's also a wholly unnecessary follow-up. It ended so well, and yet so ambiguously on one point that I thought was very effective. This book takes away that ambiguity and takes away the power/mystery from the conclusion.

Long-time fans will find enough to justify their time (there's a moment where Vic reveals a lot of herself to another character that's one of the most honest moments in the series for her, for example), but I expect most will be unsatisfied by the book as a whole. I think I was. Still, while this might not have been the most successful Walt Longmire book, I tip my cap to Johnson for giving it a shot.

Craig Johnson is a must-read for me. Since I first discovered Longmire shortly after the release of the first book, it's been one of the books I've looked forward to every year. Walt Longmire is at his absolute best when Craig Johnson is doing one of two things:
1. Light banter with slick jokes between Walt, Henry, and Vic
and
2. Walking that shadow world between light and dark, reality and myth, and courting the edge of magical reality.

Ever since Virgil White Buffalo's introduction into the series way back in ANOTHER MAN'S MOCCASINS, he's been my favorite character. His passing and subsequent self-appointment as Longmire's spirit guide on the other side have been one of the best things Craig has done with the series. Sure, some might dislike the magic or spirituality of it, but for my money, I'm always interested when the big Crow makes his presence felt in Walt's life. Virgil practically takes center stage in this novel, and the movement through the twilight realm is fascinating. It's done briskly and leaves the reader questioning his own reality.

In HELL AND BACK, Walt has headed into Montana to investigate the disappearance of a young woman from the reservation back in Absaroka. The events of the previous book, DAUGHTER OF THE MORNING STAR, set Walt on this path, but when HELL AND BACK opens, Walt is in a strange realm of eternal night and has no memory of who he was or what he was doing to get there.

First-timers to the Longmire series might enjoy this book, but really–this book is one for people who have been reading since 2004. It brings back so many things from Walt's past adventures, like the ghostly highway patrolman, Bobby Womack, or Walt's late wife Martha, but it moves it forward in a way that forces Walt to confront his past and appreciate the present.

In the end, Walt is faced with a showdown with the Wandering Without, and he is faced with his own regrets, the little things that haunt him yet. And he's faced with the memory that he's to an age where most cops retire. It feels like Walt is coming into a reckoning. No matter how much he tries to cowboy up and keep strapping on the Colt to keep the peace in Absaroka, time will win in the end. It always does. And it seems like Walt is becoming more aware of that fact with each book in the series.

If you're a fan of the series, get yourself a Rainier and a pack of Mallo Cups. You've got some reading to do.