Depth of Winter: A Longmire Mystery

A riveting tales that had me powering thru late I to the night. If it is action you are looking for then look no more. While it seems to drag a bit before getting to the REAL action, fasten your seatbelt because the ride can get bumpy - but it is definitely worth the effort!

Craig Johnson is a great writer; he’s thought provoking and intelligent, with a great sense of humor, a strong feeling for what he writes, and the reader cannot help but fall in love his characters. The sheriff’s department of Absaroka County sure does have personality: curmudgeonly Sheriff Longmire, spit fire and blasphemer extraordinaire Vic Moretti, Henry Standing Bear, Walt’s rock of wisdom and childhood friend, and the various town denizens keep the reader laughing, even crying. His mysteries take place in the small county of Absaroka where, as my husband innocently pointed out, “Someone dies each time and for a small town, that’s a lot of people dying”.But Johnson has taken his stories to other locations, or even different times: Philadelphia, Sturgis, even a train full of law enforcement as it crossed Wyoming at the beginning of Walt’s career. The author has tried to mix it up, keep it fresh for the reader but he usually sends Walt with one or two or whole handful of his crew. Depth of Winter is the first time he sent Walt out alone. And he sent him to Mexico, deep into narco country to find his daughter Cady.Now while I missed the usual band of idiots, like many of the readers, I can see what Johnson is trying to do: this is Walt’s daughter, Walt’s enemy, Walt’s fight. He would die for his daughter and going into Tomas Bidarte’s territory just might fulfill Walt’s crazy death wish. He snuck away while no one was looking (he literally snuck over the border into Mexico) because he wasn’t going to lose any more loved ones that he might lose in this fight to the death.Johnson doesn’t send Walt completely alone, maybe not with loved ones, but he does include a bunch of characters that, surprise, Walt finds he does care about by the end of the book. The blind and legless Seer who can tell what Walt looks like by his voice; Adan, the freedom fighter/doctor; Alonzo with the pink caddy and coke-bottle glasses; Isidro, the tongueless former mule who’s a dead shot with an ancient rifle; and Bianca, Adan’s sister, hot and helpful Bianca; these are who we meet in the latest book out of fourteen. Because it’s a rather short book, we don’t really get to the depth of these people, but they are still interesting.Johnson tosses in a goofy sidetrack by having Walt impersonate former Dallas Cowboy football legend, Bob Lilly, to give him cover. It’s silly and kind of a distraction from the story. It also assumes that all white guys do look the same to the Hispanic population. I googled him and found the guy’s still alive, I wonder what he thinks about this.While Walt drives, climbs, hikes, and mules it to Cady, Bidarte bides his time, and sends out his psychopath sidekick, Culpepper, to slime up the area. The man truly is a psychopath. This is when the book gets really dark. This is when the bodies stack up.In addition to missing the usual locale and crew, I also missed the usual mystery each Longmire book has. I sometimes guessed who done it but a lot of times the twists proved me wrong. This time, we know who done it, we just don’t know what’s going to happen.Now, to the nitpicking: how old is Walt and how is he able to survive multiple beatings and a hike through the desert (without Virgil Buffalo, no less)? What would have hospitalized most men, Walt just keeps on going. Like Culpepper remarks, “you’re like the Energizer Bunny”. I know he's trekked through a snowstorm, fallen through a frozen river, and survived various near fatal injuries, but Walt is true kevlar in this one. Also, if Walt fought in Vietnam, including the Tet Offensive, he might be pushing or even past his seventieth birthday. Wish that didn’t play in the back of my mind so much, but there it is.So, this begs the question: is Johnson looking to find the sweet spot to end his unbeatable cyborg sheriff’s career and have him hand over the reins to Vic so he can play house with her and enjoy retirement and his granddaughter?Naawwwwwww. Not happening. So, let us all suspend our Grand Canyon-sized disbelief, enjoy the characters (whoever they are), the location (wherever it is) and the story (mystery or not) because, boy howdy, after the Longmire series ended last season, Johnson knew he still had a few good years left in the old boy.Recommended for the hardcore Longmire fans, whoever you are. Suspend with a grain of salt.

This book arrived with others in my order in perfect condition (new). I am looking forward to reading it and all of the other books in the series. Thank you.

In Depth of Winter is a much different book compared to the other the LONGMIRE books. The biggest reason is the adventure takes place in Mexico instead of Wyoming. Here his daughter Cady is being held hostage and only Walt and a handful of new friends can help save her! Walt is a very determined Dad and he will do anything and everything to help save her. The bad guy is a horrible and ruthless villain and his only satisfaction is to destroy Walt's world and kill him.The entire time as I was reading this I kept thinking of LIAM NEESON and his role in TAKEN and how he was willing to do anything it takes to save his Daughter. I kept remembering LIAM'S famous quote. . ."I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you." I could just hear Walt Longmire say that!!Overall a very good book with Craig Johnson and George Guidall (Audiobook) bringing LONGMIRE to life for the 14th time is wonderful!! Enjoy a good adventure and I am looking forward to Walt's next adventure!! Rick Patterson

I give this book 3 stars for being well written and not full of errors that escaped editors. The story itself bothers me.Coming from a seasoned best-selling author, this series installment was amateurish and took a self-indulgent detour from the successful formula that his readers have come to anticipate and rely on.In his interview at the end of the story, Mr. Johnson mentioned something about wanting to flex his creative muscle without relying on his usual cast of characters. OK, there are stand-alones for that, but in the case of a long-running series, I think he should've considered his readers first. I, for one, have read all the books in this series as much for the setting and supporting characters as for the stories. Their absence (except for a few lines) left me unfulfilled, and the drug cartel desert setting in Mexico wasn't my "cup of tea" (or "tea-quila"). (sorry)I was looking forward to Henry Standing Bear, as I love his ability, his quiet wisdom, dry wit...and for some reason, he's the only character I can put a face to (I picture him as the character Chief in the original “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” :]). Most importantly, he and Walt have a natural synergy and I don't see Walt as complete without him. Neither Cady nor Vic appeal to me as much as he does, but there should've been more of Vic in this story since she was already peripherally involved; it seemed a bit ludicrous that with all their high-tech gadgertry, the authorities failed to locate Walt. Vic did manage to get through to him via his satellite phone, but though he was physically suffering as he followed a trail littered with bodies, he didn't bother to call her back when he changed direction? It was mentioned that the sat phone was rigged so its location couldn't be pinpointed, but if Bidarte and his cronies could find Walt by plane, why couldn't the authorities? These were just a few things that had me shaking my head.There were too many headshakes throughout this book, and these kind of holes (as well as convenient happenstances that saved him) made me lose interest. But I pushed through, finding it nice but unlikely that Cady wasn't assaulted, that Walt's morality issue was too concrete for a lawman who should go with the circumstances, and that a man of Walt's age (despite his good shape) could survive the kind of punishment that would kill most people. But he somehow manages to walk on, walks through a hail of bullets, no less (I! AM! LONGMIIIIRRE!!), until we finally get to his showdown with Bidarte, and I won't spoil that for those who haven't read this yet.Hopefully this isnt a spoiler, but I found the ending strange, and considering the surreal encounters Walt was experiencing (heading toward the door of light and chatting with the recently deceased, etc.), I began to wonder if he was dying. But since he had to survive for the series, I figured he was drugged and/or experiencing one of his hallucinations. It would've been nice if some of those surreal encounters were replaced by real ones with Cady; I found it disturbing that she didn't even stick around after her father almost lost his life by saving hers. Maybe she didn't have a choice. Anyway, for me the ending was true to the story...unfulfilling.So let's get back to our series about a WYOMING sheriff, his under sheriff, and his sidekick & true friend, Henry Standing Bear. Boy howdy!

Thomas Bidarte really looks like the "judge" in Cormac Mac Carthy's blood meridian, Culpepper looks like the killer in no country for old man (again Cormac Mac Carthy), and at the end the knives fight is exactly the one of cities of the plains (of the same Cormac Mac Carthy). Is this all by chance and coïncidence ?

Can't comment more. My husband loves all his books. I've read a few and must say they are very well done, good storyline, mystery and humorous at times.

This book see's Walt sneak across the border to mexico to track down Cadys abductor and Walt's nemesis. This story reads like an action movie ( now you know why so many fans of longmire were calling for a feature film, there's no way you could pack all this into a couple of TV episodes, great read

Great

The latest Longmire novel is a sequel that nicely ties up the ends of the prequel. Seemed a little short but still had some gems. Missed Henry Standing Bear.