Set, in part, in the tiny town of Tularosa, New Mexico, Tularosa by Michael McGarrity is a story of muder, mystery, history, and culture. Kevin Kerney, an injured, ex-chief of detectives for the Santa Fe police department, must come out of retirement when his godson, Sammy Yazzi, a Navajo, Native American soldier, goes missing from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. As the story unfolds, Kerney must dig deep into stories from his own past, as well as stories of the native people of the region to find Sammy. What he discovers, though, besides Sammy 's body is a ring of smugglers and their operation to carry pieces of United States history out of the country to sell in the black market. Throughout his first novel, McGarrity, while telling
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In the novel 's portrayal of the Indian Wars, it also brings ancient legends to life, of lost gold mines and hidden treasure. At the time of the Apache Indian War, rumors spread about the Native Americans hiding treasure from their raids throughout the mountains. McGarrity plays on this legend, and Sammy 's body is found in a cave, just like the one the Apaches were rumored to have hidden treasures in. However, instead of finding lost gold in Gutierrez 's truck, Kerney and Sara find historic letters written by General William Tecumseh Sherman and President Ulysses S. Grant to O.O. Howard, a Civil War General who was sent west and also negotiated a treaty with the Cochise. They find old coins, which have been taken out of the cave as well (McGarrity …show more content…
Even today, many are still skeptical about what is really going on behind those wall. There have been conspiracies about covert tunnels and even alien contact. Thus, with the characters of anthropologist Fred Utley and Captian Jim Meehan, McGarrity represents this idea. While Meehan runs a covert intelligence operation for the United States government, towards the end of the novel, readers discover he is working with the ring of smugglers. Here again,is the idea that the United States government is cruel and cannot be trusted, which is what the Apaches thoguht, when their native lands began to be take
In the novel 's portrayal of the Indian Wars, it also brings ancient legends to life, of lost gold mines and hidden treasure. At the time of the Apache Indian War, rumors spread about the Native Americans hiding treasure from their raids throughout the mountains. McGarrity plays on this legend, and Sammy 's body is found in a cave, just like the one the Apaches were rumored to have hidden treasures in. However, instead of finding lost gold in Gutierrez 's truck, Kerney and Sara find historic letters written by General William Tecumseh Sherman and President Ulysses S. Grant to O.O. Howard, a Civil War General who was sent west and also negotiated a treaty with the Cochise. They find old coins, which have been taken out of the cave as well (McGarrity …show more content…
Even today, many are still skeptical about what is really going on behind those wall. There have been conspiracies about covert tunnels and even alien contact. Thus, with the characters of anthropologist Fred Utley and Captian Jim Meehan, McGarrity represents this idea. While Meehan runs a covert intelligence operation for the United States government, towards the end of the novel, readers discover he is working with the ring of smugglers. Here again,is the idea that the United States government is cruel and cannot be trusted, which is what the Apaches thoguht, when their native lands began to be take