staticdisplay 's review for:

A Serpent's Tooth by Craig Johnson

3.0

---

hmm... probably my least favorite in the series so far. the mystery started out in such an interesting way, with Cord and Orrin, these absolutely bananas side characters who are trying to steal horses with their bare hands and love watching VHS tapes, but then moves progressively further and further away from what makes this series unique and more towards a generic action kind of story.

Spoiler

the whole explosion was hard to picture and seemed a lot more dangerous than it was presented. and the CIA? there are a lot of fake outs about who's dead, which I didn't appreciate.

I also was kind of wondering what was up with all of the punching people and ramming cars. I was just thinking about what kind of paperwork or testimony you would be able to generate after some of this stuff, and it seemed like a mess. it's troublesome to have a law enforcement character engaged in vigilante justice, even if the "bad guys" are painted as pretty bad guys.

Spoiler

I also don't love the Vic and Walt romance. it seems like an aside that's not necessary when there's already enough going on in the series.

and it's also frustrating and boring to keep reading physical descriptions of Vic. I got triggered about workplace harassment, which I have never received as a compliment, so just like getting activated about this issue when I would rather be able to read about Vic as a cool badass who's good at her job regardless of how her bare thighs look in a short skirt. so I guess I'm complaining because I wanted the characters to be more professional but also to have more of the mystical that has been present in the past and also to not treat Henry Standing Bear like he can just be available at any time to do whatever because he's not actually deputized and has his own job and life etc. and is more interesting when he's also doing his own thing (kind of making him a generic sidekick - just a general trend of making things less special in this one which I didn't enjoy). so, circling back and summarizing, just not my favorite in the series. had some elements I enjoyed and would have liked more of. hoping things will get better and not keep trending towards generic.