Nails

by Peter Bowen

Book Overview

A van full of praying, protesting fundamentalist Christians has arrived in Toussaint at about the time that Gabriel Du Pre's precocious grandaughter returns from her studies in Washington. A young soldier follows, just back from Iraq and missing his grip on reality. Du Pre suspects that he's going to have his hands full."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312312075
• ISBN13: 9780312312077
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Gabriel Dupree...

is one of my favorite characters. Peter Bowen really shows what the West was all about in writing these books. I grew up in Central and Southern Oregon which is still cow country with authentic cowboys who wear pistols and carry rifles in their rigs. Gabriel Dupree and his friends are a little overdrawn but not by much. The language, characterizations, plots, and landscape are all entwined to create a sense of place and time that is fast disappearing. The story "Nails" has to do with horse racing and the use of young teens as jockeys. There is also a sub plot having to do with white supremists and certain individuals who have too much money and not enough brains. This book fleshes out some of the characters that have been floating through the earlier stories, such as Gabriel's granddaughters and Booger Tom.

A good read

This is not the best of the Gabriel Du Pre Mysteries but is still a good read.

A Dying Place

Peter Bowen alternates between serious detective fiction and a more lighthearted style the often makes gentle fun of life in upstate Montana. I like both, but lately Bowen has been more humor than mystery (consider Stewball, for instance). Nails is a return to the harder fiction style of Wolf, No Wolf and Notches and once again proves that Bowen is a writer to be reckoned with. The subject is a touchy one. A group of Evangelical Christian has moved into the Toussaint area, and trouble starts happening. Graffiti starts appearing on the door of Father Van Den Heuvel's church. For those of us who have become fans of the clumsy priest who habitually shuts is head in the car door, Nails is a special treat. The good father gets a real part and some surprising facets of his character come out. But, as Van Den Heuvel himself points out, this is hardly the real problem. A young girl calls 911 and begs for help, a body found, and gradually a series of strange events centers around the evangelicals and the local people who have welcomed them. Not just a spate of graffiti, pop-up sermons, and minor larceny - child abuse of the worst sort is feared, and Dupre is once again on the hunt - and complaining about the lack of help from Benetsee, the local shaman. Even without spiritual help, Dupre is inexorable. He smells evil and intends to root is out. As I've already said, Bowen focuses on a sensitive issue, and he doesn't pull any punches. It is interesting that I read this book just as several stories about excessive discipline appeared in the news. Most of us don't realize that what we see - what actually gets report - is the very tip of the iceberg. Bowen takes the issue head on, mixing in enough local color to provide a stark contrast.

Dark as the world of man

I'm not sure where Peter Bowen got the title for his latest Gabriel Du Pre mystery, but it might be from a poem by Dame Edith Sitwell: "Still falls the Rain--- Dark as the world of man, black as our loss--- Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails Upon the Cross." Of course there are more nails now. More like 2006 in this grim Evangelical-bashing novel. Bowen doesn't go after all Christians: just the ones who accuse their own daughters of witchcraft and lock them in small rooms until they repent; and the ones who disrupt the teaching of science in schools with their rants on 'intelligent design'. I'm surprised Pat Robertson hasn't issued a fatwa against the author of "Nails." Bowen tries to show sympathy for the down-trodden ranks of fundamentalists--the murder that is the grim centerpiece of this novel is committed almost by mistake. But maybe the author tries too hard, because the bad guys exude stupidity rather than pathos. Aficionados of Peter Bowen's Gabriel Du Pre mysteries already know that life is grim in the Big Sky Country. It doesn't matter whether you're a ranch hand, a fiddler, a rich alcoholic, or just a science teacher who is struggling to educate her class using the standard textbooks. The small town of Toussaint is slowly losing population--there's very little in town anymore except for a bar and a Catholic church--but an influx of fundamentalist Christians temporarily reverses the trend. Bowen's detective-hero, Gabriel Du Pre, a laconic fiddler who lets his music and his deeds speak for him, thinks the newcomers are up to no good. For one thing, their appearance coincides with the discovery of a young girl's body in a road-side ditch. He and his long-time mistress, Madelaine, Metis descendants of the French Voyageurs and Plains Indians, also have to wrestle with a few family problems. Madelaine's son returns from the war in Iraq, minus a few body parts, with nothing to look forward to except the false solace of alcohol. Madelaine's brilliant granddaughter, Pallas is back from her posh Eastern school and trying to deal with her own demons. "Nails" is the best of the Gabriel Du Pre mysteries to hit the shelves in quite awhile. It is grim, and I fervently hope that Bowen didn't take his story from a true-life incident, but some comic relief is provided by ancient cowhand, Booger Tom, his two mules, and the hopelessly klutzy, Father Van Den Heuvel, Toussaint's agnostic priest. Just don't get Booger Tom started on the topic of the current Administration in Washington D.C.

delightful thirteenth Big Sky thriller

Métis Indian Gabriel Du Pre is happy his granddaughter Pallas is home even for a short visit while on hiatus from her studies in DC. Also back in Montana is Chappie, the son of Gabriel's friend. The lad lost a leg, an eye, and a wife while serving in Iraq; Du Pre thinks the veteran lost his mind too. While the family reunions are going on, Pastor Flowers, a fundamentalist from Texas, and his extended family move into the area. Not long afterward, a young girl calls the cops asking for help as she is a runaway, but insists if they find her they will kill her. At the same time graffiti criticizing the local church ministered by Father Van den Huevel appears on the walls of that facility. As Du Pre, in between shots of whiskey and smoking his rolled cigarettes, and others search for the missing girl that he believes connects to the zealous religious fundamentalists who violently attack others with their my way is the only way theme. Du Pre's latest Montana tale is a terrific thriller, but it is the tons of sidebars that reflect on many of today's issues such as the health of returning veterans from Iraq, a slowly dying small town, and religious fundamentalism that make the story line fascinating. For instance, the impact of real sacrifice (not BuSh claims of Americans giving up so much to support the war) on a solider in which the government fails to pay for an artificial leg - someone has to fund the tax cuts. Peter Bowen is at his best as he NAILS down much of what disturbs Americans with Du Pre's delightful thirteenth Big Sky thriller. Harriet Klausner