Jemez Spring

by Rudolfo Anaya

Book Overview

When the governor of New Mexico is found drowned in the Bath House at Jemez Springs, Albuquerque private eye Sonny Baca is called in to investigate. As he soon learns, murder is only the beginning of the evil that Sonny must sort out. Someone has planted a bomb in the Valles Caldera, not far from the Los Alamos National Laboratories, and it is set to detonate in just a few hours. Is this the work of terrorists or is Sonny's old nemesis, Raven,...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0826336841
• ISBN13: 9780826336842
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

No Better Way to End a Career

With Jemez Spring, Rudolfo Anaya brings to a close his quartet of novels centered on the literate and spiritual private investigator, Sonny Baca. All the elements of a great hayride are present. First, we have a corpse. But not just any dead body. Sonny is beckoned to crack the mystery behind the death of New Mexico's governor whose bloated, half-cooked body is found in the Bath House at Jemez Springs. Second, we have something worse than a dead governor: someone (al-Qaeda?) has planted a bomb in the Valles Caldera, not far from Los Alamos National Laboratories, where it apparently is set to blow in just a few hours. Third, enter the crooked politicians and greedy developers who might be behind the murder and bomb in order to secure water rights and make a fortune. And the evil, powerful Raven (Sonny's nemesis and polar opposite) might be mixed up in all this, too. Finally, there's a troubled love interest: Sonny and Rita adore each other but she is healing (emotionally and physically) from a miscarriage and needs space. But Jemez Spring is not your typical mystery. We can't forget that this is Anaya's world. So, in addition to the murder and ticking bomb, the mystical otherworld is as real as anything else. Sonny enjoys extended dialogues with the spirit of his late mentor, don Eliseo. Sonny also wears the powerful Zia medallion which Raven desperately wants to possess. Sonny's one-eyed dog, Chica, dreams which eventually leads to a heated and protracted debate in the community. Even a group of European intellectuals debate the question of the dreaming dog in a hilarious send-up of ivory tower literary analysis: "But you can't deconstruct folk memory! Does the dog wag the tail, or the tail wag the dog? You are going in circles. The essence of the dog dream lies in the artist as myth-maker. Which leads directly to the myth of Aztlán and its use as an identity in the Weltanschauung of the Chicano." You can almost hear Anaya laughing as his "intellectual" character spouts such pretentious and overwrought opinions. Included with all this are Anaya's poetic and loving descriptions of New Mexico mixed in with plenty of digressions on religion, politics, sex and culture. Anaya's characters are fully-realized portraits, people we see and know. Sonny Baca couldn't have asked for a better way to end his career. But he'll be sorely missed. [This review first appeared in Southwest BookViews.]

Jemez Spring

A tale that will appeal to any reader with an interest in the American Southwest and its culture, both past and present. Not just a mystery, but a tale of supernatural, myth, and cultural history. Sonny Baca is drawn into amurder of ther governor of New Mexico when his body is found in a tub at the Jemez Springs and four black feathers are found with him. His enemy, The Raven, is back. Sonny communes with the ghost of Don Eliseo, his mentor, who accompanies him and Chica, the dreaming dog, into the investigation. A fascinating read from the beginning through Sonny's encounter with The Raven to the last pages. In Jemez Spring the reader will step off the edge of what we call reality into a world where many things we do not understand lurk, places consigned to myth and superstition by modern man, yet known to the older generations and considered as part of their world. Do they exist or not? To answer that question, I recommend settling into a comfortable chair and taking the tour of Jemez Spring with Sonny and Chica. This is a multi-layered mystery with a case of well drawn characters, a great comgination of the old and the new. Enjoy the adventure. I certainly did.

Jemez Spring Weaves Hispanic Ideas into Universal Culture

JEMEZ SPRING is the fourth in a series about detective Sonny Baca and his quest to catch Raven, who is forever doing something horrible--this time threatening to set off a nuclear device in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. The story could become just another catch-him-before-he-blows-us up loaded with chase scene. But in Rudolfo Anay's hands, JEMEZ SPRING becomes much more. While solving crimes, Sonny Baca also discovers a lot about his Hispanic roots. He uses this heritage to help in the fight against Raven. Therefore, we as readers learn about the stories, songs, food, values, and ideas that make New Mexico Hispanics--well, New Mexico Hispanics as opposed to someone else. And not only that!! Mr. Anaya skillfully connects that heritage to Greek and Roman myths; and Native American stories. In this gentle way, he reminds us that no matter who we think we are, or who we think we might be better (or worse) than, we are really all one. We all need to survive, to love, and to achieve. Anay's stories show us that we all try to figure out how to do that. He also reminds us that storytelling is more than entertainment. Stories transmit our values to the next generation. That's what I loved best about JEMEZ SPRING. Mr. Anaya also used the story to play with reality. As Sonny tries to guess what Raven will do with his bomb, Sonny becomes more and more afraid of Raven. He imagines so many possibilities that soon, he isn't sure which are real, which might become real, and which are completely off the wall. Don't we all go through that once in a while. The two layers together make Raven something more than the run-of-the-mill outlaw, and Sonny Baca more than the average detective. What they become I will not say, because that's up to the reader. But I will say that JEMEZ SPRING is a good read. Enjoy.