Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3)

Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3)
Day of the Dead - Walker Family, Bk 3
Author: J. A. Jance
ISBN-13: 9780688138233
ISBN-10: 0688138233
Publication Date: 8/1/2004
Pages: 384
Rating:
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 49

3.8 stars, based on 49 ratings
Publisher: William Morrow
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

49 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

TinkerPirate avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 61 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
LOVED IT! But, read Hour of the Hunter and Kiss of the Bees first.
Cycle304 avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 135 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
An ex-sherrif has a chance to work on 'cold cases' to give closure to families of murder victims. In doing so, he finds that a serial killer has been at work for more than 30 years in the area they live in and no one had connected the murders. Very good read, keeps your attention to see just what is going to happen next.
sealady avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 657 more book reviews
From Publishers Weekly: "Jance's third suspense thriller to feature ex-sheriff Brandon Walker and his family (after Hour of the Hunter and Kiss of the Bees) deftly mixes Native American mythology with a harrowing plot. An old Tohono O'odham woman, Emma Orozco, asks Walker for help in solving the brutal murder of her daughter, Roseanne, who was slain in 1970. Walker is able to take on the challenge because of his membership in TLC, The Last Chance, a privately funded agency that looks into old, unsolved crimes. This ingenious arrangement allows for great flexibility in the action of the story. As Walker searches for clues in Roseanne's death, he comes across similar murderseach with no leads, each involving a dismembered body left alongside a road in the Southwest. The reader learns more and more about the killers, the sexually voracious, utterly amoral Gayle Stryker and her husband, Larry, a truly effective pair of monsters. Meanwhile, Walker's dear friend Fat Crack Ortiz, a Tohono O'odham man, is dying of complications from diabetes. Most of Walker's friends, in fact, are Indians, as is his adopted daughter, Lani. He draws not so much knowledge as strength and perspective from themno mumbo-jumbo here, only believable sensitivity." Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 47 more book reviews
Retired sheriff works to solve a 30 year old murder.
Good story provides some insight into the life of Native Americans.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 136 more book reviews
Much more violent than Jance's books usually are.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 60 more book reviews
A suspenseful novel. Reminds me of Tony Hillerman's books.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 19 more book reviews
The suspense story is set in Pima County, Arizona, a place I am very familiar with. It was a great read for anyone who enjoys crime stories (although fiction).
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 16 more book reviews
This mystery is about an unsolved gruesome thirty-year old cold case. Retired County Sheriff Brandon Walker has begun working with an exclusive, nationwide fraternity of former lawmen investigating unsolved homicides.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 29 more book reviews
Retired Sheriff Brandon Walker works with a nationwide fraternity of former lawmen investigating unsolved homicides and is now investigating a gruesome 30 year old cold case.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 5 more book reviews
Good thriller!
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 67 more book reviews
A Brandon Walker story!!
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 9 more book reviews
As always with J.A.Jance books, up to the last paragraph keeps you wondering......I was intrigued by the Indian Lore in this particular book.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 44 more book reviews
Thirty years ago, a local Papago girl was brutally murdered, her butchered body found stuffed into a large cooler left on the side of Highway 86. No one was ever charged for the crime. Few even cared. and no one suspected it was only the beginning.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on
Iam a big J.A Jance fan
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 16 more book reviews
Series mystery set in Arizona
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on
Suspense
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 72 more book reviews
Not a series of hers, but excellent.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 683 more book reviews
A wecome to the shadow would of KISS OF THE BEES.
justus5 avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 36 more book reviews
great read
katzpawz avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 281 more book reviews
For more than 30 years the case has remained stone cold-the brutal murder of a local Papago girl, her butchered body found stuffed into a large cooler that wasleft on the side of Highway 86. No one ever paid for the horriic crime...except, that is, the victim's loved ones, who suffer to this day.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on
I thought it was the best book of the series!
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 18 more book reviews
This is the third book with sheriff Brandon Walker. He's retired now, and working with an exclusive organization that investigates cold murder cases. It leads him to a shocking realization about a couple acquainted with his wife and there's more about the relationship between adopted daughter Lani and Fat Crack the medicine man. I like the character development, the sense of unease throughout the book. The bad guys are reaaaally bad. There's more violence than in other Jance books.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 194 more book reviews
Retired Pima County Sherriff Brandon Walker's work with The Last Chance-an exclusive, nationwide fraternity of former lawmen investigating unsloved homicides-has brought new purpose to his life. A gruesome,thirty-year old cold case leads him into a strange world at the unlikely border between forensic science and tribal mysticism: a place where evil hides behind a perfect facade. A long-forgotten murder in the Arizonia desert now threatens to bring home a new horror for Walker and his family,who have already survived the dark hunger of two human monsters. Walker, a relentess ex-cop is the only person who can still unravel a blood knot of terror and obsession before the innocent die again
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 373 more book reviews
Thirty years ago, a local Papago girl was brutally murdered, her butchered body found stuffed into a large cooler left on the side of Highway 86. No one was ever charged for the crime. Few even cared.

And no one suspected it was only the beginning.

Retired Pima County Sheriff Brandon Walker's work with The Last Chance-an exclusive, nationwide fraternity of former lawmen investigating unsolved homicides-has brought new purpose to his life. A gruesome, thirty-year-old cold case leads him into a strange world at the unlikely border between forensic science and tribal mysticism: a place where evil hides behind a perfect facade. A long-forgotten murder in the Arizona desert now threatens to bring home a new horror for Walker and his family, who have already survived the dark hunger of two human monsters. Walker, a relentless ex-cop, is the only person who can still unravel a blood know of terror and obession before the innocent die again.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 517 more book reviews
Retired Pima Sheriff Walker works with The Last Chance--a fraternity of former lawmen investigating unsolved homicides. A 30 year old cold case has lead him into a strange world of a mixture of forensic science and tribal mysticism. Very good book
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 5 more book reviews
can't put this one down till you've finished it!
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 153 more book reviews
Retired Pima County Sheriff Brandon Walker's work with The Last Chance, an exclusive, nationwide fraternity of former lawmen investigating unsolved homicides, has brought new purpose to his life. A gruesome, 30 year old case leads him into a strange world at the unlikely border between forensic science and tribal mysticism: a place where evil hides behind a perfect facade.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 4 more book reviews
I love J.A. Jance and like this storyline (its the third book in trilogy) but there are some pretty disturbing parts.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 82 more book reviews
"For more than thirty years, the case has remained stone cold-the brutal murder of a local Papago girl, her butchered body found stuffed into a large cooler that was left on the side of Highway 86. No one ever paid for the horrific crime...except, that is, the victim's loved ones, who suffer to this day.
Brandon Walker, once the sheriff of Pima County, Arizona, no longer feels he has a purpose. A reluctant retiree living in the long shadow of his wife, Diana Ladd, a successful author of true-crime books, he is bored with golf and more so with life. Salvation, though, comes with an invitation to join the ranks of The Last Chance, an exclusive nationwide fraternity of former cops and forensic experts who look into unsolved murders that have baffled local law enforcement agencies. And one such case is staring Brandon in the face with cold, dead, entreating eyes- a murder investigation that may have been mishandled by his department when he was a young lawman.
The trail of a sidistic, claculating, and blood-chillingly efficient killer soon leads Brandon into a strange world at the unlikely border between forensic science and tribal mysticism: a place where evil hides behind a perfecr facade. Now the seeds of terror sown three decades earlier have bloomed and are bearing awful fruit. A forgotten homicide in the Arizona desert is only the beginning of the nightmare that is about to ensnare a diligent ex-cop and his family, for Brandon Walker is the only one still alive who can unravel a blood knot of terror and obsession that will free a dark truth more frightening than he ever imagined."

This is a little misleading as it bounces POV. It is still very well written and an interesting blend of thriller Native American mysticism.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 141 more book reviews
Great book! Definately the most gorey of all the books I've read of J.A.Jance. Keeps you going all the way to the end.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 241 more book reviews
This is the first I have read by this author and it will NOT be the last..... Very graphic and excellent character development.... a fascinating look at the bitter truth behind some of the so called "charities" and the brutality of people...
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 108 more book reviews
excellent!
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 43 more book reviews
Thirty years ago a local Papago girl was brutally murdered her butchered body found stuffed into a large cooler left on the side of Highway 86. No one was ever charged for the crime. Few even cared. And no one suspected it was only the beginning.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 15 more book reviews
Retired Pima County Sheriff Brandon Walker's work with The Last Chance - an exclusive, nationwide fraternity of former lawmen investigating unsolved homicides - has brought new purpose to his life. A gruesome, 30-year-old case leads him into a strange world at the unlikely border between forensic science and tribal mysticism. I enjoyed this book!
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 86 more book reviews
This is a dark and disturbing--and rather bizarre--Jance thriller
about a cold case that Sheriff Brandon Walker reopens. Walker is
not a series character for Jance.
shooky avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 138 more book reviews
a different type of supsense novel but still a quck read
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 69 more book reviews
This is not part of Jance's Johanna Brady or J.P. Beaumont series but a real page turner. Wrapped in Southwest Indian lore, a serial murderer has been plying a grizzly trade for 30 years. The organization The Last Chance, TLC takes up the 30 year old cold case. The twists and turns and intertwining of charactersed, missed opportunities, unmade phone calls, unexpected events, come at the reader so fast it was hard to put down for fear of forgetting a thread! Jance is a very graphic author, her descriptions are very visual and insightful. Of all the mysteries I've read based on the American Indian community, this one ranks pretty high.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 98 more book reviews
FANTASTIC.
BarbSchmidt avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 8 more book reviews
I got this book because I like J. P. Beaumont (a detective in another series that Jance has written). This book is pretty violent, and nearly distasteful. Not for the squeamish, I'd say.
quilty45 avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 100 more book reviews
This book has ex-Sheriff Brandon Walker as the central character. He is hired by an organization of ex-law enforcement personnel to work voluntarily on cold cases. He becomes involved in a 30 year old murder of a young girl on the Papago reservation nearby.
I enjoyed this book. Became more suspenseful as I went along; enjoyed the characters and the Native American cultural explanations.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 149 more book reviews
Very good book!!
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 26 more book reviews
Fast paced read. Really good.
AL avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 22 more book reviews
Good Book!!!!!!!!!
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 82 more book reviews
Did not want to be alone really a heart stopper
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 97 more book reviews
Very good!
FriscoOBX avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 601 more book reviews
good story
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 5 more book reviews
hardcover
ladycholla avatar reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 2081 more book reviews
Liked this one better than the lst two, but they need to be read to get to know everyone.
reviewed Day of the Dead (Walker Family, Bk 3) on + 25 more book reviews
reviewed on MyShelf.com