First Frost by Craig Johnson

 

First Line: "You're too big to surf."

 

It's the summer of 1964 and recent college graduates Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear have enlisted to serve in the Vietnam War. Catching a few final waves in California before reporting for duty, a sudden storm capsizes a nearby boat, and Walt and Henry rescue some of the crew. Unfortunately, the boat was carrying valuable contraband, and the police are reluctant to turn Walt and Henry loose. But they finally do, and the two young men head east on Route 66. They have a date with the military.

Back in the present day, Walt is forced to speak before a judge concerning the fatal events of The Longmire Defense. It doesn't take the sheriff long to realize that he's got some powerful enemies lurking behind the scenes. 

These are two pivotal moments in Walt Longmire's life. Moments in which he stands in the crossfire of good and evil, of law and anarchy, and of compassion and cruelty.

~

When Vic Moretti starts cleaning out Walt's basement and finds a battered surfboard, it's the perfect beginning to the dual timeline tale of First Frost. Although the present-day timeline concerning Walt being questioned about the events in The Longmire Defense is important to his future, it's the treat of seeing Walt and Henry Standing Bear as young men that steals the show. 

Who wouldn't want to see these two on a road trip traveling Route 66, and where else should they be stranded than in the Middle-of-Nowhere, Arizona? Stranding Walt and Henry at the location of an old World War II Japanese internment camp lets Craig Johnson bring out a stellar cast of the weird, the downtrodden, and the deadly, and I relished meeting every one of them. 

Although Walt is still at a crossroads in his life, First Frost is also a return to some of the things longtime fans love the series for. There's Undersheriff Vic Moretti at her mouthy best and Henry Standing Bear, side by side with Walt, for example. I'm hoping that we'll get to see more of these two as young men, but who knows what Johnson has in store for us?

 

Characters, setting, story... Johnson is a master at all three. Moreover, he's also a master of the descriptive phrase that can really grab me. "...cruising away in the school of traffic like a killer whale." "...the hand that had reached up to me in the darkness like a flower breaking from the dark earth." "His eyes came up above the sunglasses again, dark, like swirling drains." 

I'm still smiling after finishing this latest installment in the life of my favorite sheriff, and once again, I'm waiting impatiently for the next. Boy howdy.

First Frost by Craig Johnson

ISBN: 9780593830673

Viking © 2024

Hardcover, 336 pages

 

Police Procedural, #20 Walt Longmire

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore.