Picnic In the Ruins

I don't read a lot of mysteries or crime thrillers but I do enjoy them occasionally especially when they have a gritty, modern road trip noir vibe to them. I'm also a huge fan of the Southwest and Utah in particular so I jumped at the chance to read this one. PIcnic In the Ruins is set in and around Kanab, Utah a town in South Central Utah just North of the Arizona border. I won't get into too much details about the plot partly not to spoil it but also because frankly it's convoluted and kind of pointless. This is definitely an ensemble novel with a lot of different and interesting characters who's paths cross, kind of like a Robert Altman movie. At it's core is a young archeologist studying Aboriginal sites on an Government Grant, there's also a couple of bumbling criminal brothers trying to make ends meet by working for an evil hit-man/fixer who's also a former magician who in turn works for a shady women who's interested in Archeological artifacts and will do whatever it takes to find them. There's also a small town sheriff and a German doctor on vacation who gets caught up in all of it.

Todd Robert Petersen evokes the beauty of Southern Utah very well but ultimately this feels like a big jumble of vignettes that don't add up to a cohesive novel. There's way too many characters, most of them are quite interesting but then get abandoned just as we're getting to know them. The book was described as sort of a Tarantino romp set in the Southwest but the novel is more concerned about the ethics/philosophy of National Parks and cultural artifacts then of weaving a page turner. It felt preachy in a weird way. I could go on and on but ultimately I found it to be a real disappointment though the writing was interesting enough that I'd give the author another try.

This adrenaline filled, crime ridden, often humourous romp through the wild lands of Utah and Arizona was like an action movie in print form. There were shootings, car chases, kidnapping, double-crosses, and of course murder, but somehow it was also really fun! There is an almost slapstick level of comedy provided by the Ashdown Brothers and their idiotic, yet witty banter that made me chuckle more than once. There are a lot of characters who at first seem to have little to do with each other but as time goes on connections are made until finally it escalates into absolute mayhem and I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that not everyone survives. I was particularly concerned about sweet cinnamon roll and inadvertent cultural appropriator Reinhardt and I won’t give any hints about his fate or that of any other character, except the dog; the dog survives. I can say that the perilous final chase through the desert was an absolute nail-biter and I was sure everyone was going to die. There was serious tension until the glorious and satisfying end.

While this is a crime novel full of excitement and humour it also sneaks in serious messages about everything from archaeological ethics to government corruption to the treatment of Native Americans. As an archaeologist I died a little inside reading some of these scenes. Working in the Middle East I am very aware of looting and artifacts on the black market so I’m not at all shocked by that aspect but some of the actions of even the “good guys” caused me to physically cringe. I’m pretty sure my soul shriveled and hoped for death during the scene involving a backhoe. There are a lot of thoughtful relevant issues brought up dealing with the ownership of artifacts and archaeological sites and the ethics removing pieces to museums or even to private collections. The balance between preserving artifacts and preventing their possible destruction while maintaining their meaning is a tricky one and I certainly don’t have it figured out and neither do these characters.

I completely enjoyed this rowdy crime caper and its strange, wonderful, and often awful characters. While the archaeologist in me couldn’t stop figuratively covering my eyes in horror it didn’t prevent me from losing myself to the hot, dusty landscape and the madcap tale. There are characters to love and many to hate and I had no problem getting invested in and swept away by the story.

Thank you Counterpoint Press for providing an Electronic Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley for review.

This Western thriller takes place in an unnamed national monument near Bryce Canyon. I'm pretty sure it is meant to be the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the characters are involved in a scheme associated with the federal government's plans to reduce the size of the monument, something that has actually happened to Grand Staircase Escalante during the last administration. The monument contains many Indian ruins, both charted and uncharted, and this book concerns the attempt by some to plunder those ruins and the opposing attempt by others to protect them.

The characters are just what you might expect from a book set in the vastness of the Western landscape, including an archeologist, a park ranger, and a tourist on the preservationist side and backwoods brothers, an evil capitalist, and a hired assassin on the opposing side. In addition, the reader meets a small-town lawman, an off-the-grid eccentric, a polygamist family living alongside an isolated antigovernment group, and many others. The book has a very eclectic and fascinating cast.

Throughout, the reader is asked to join in a struggle to understand the nuances of ownership of ancient ruins and artifacts. As one can imagine, this is a very complex topic which Petersen asks the reader to contemplate but for which he doesn't provide a definitive answer. Copies of copies and provenance play a role, but mainly to stimulate reflection. The fast-paced suspense is well resolved, if somewhat quickly, at the end of the book. I found a connection revealed at the very end to be a bit hokey, but otherwise found the ending satisfying.

The writing about the desert landscape of the monument is beautiful and as enticing as it is frightening. I loved reading about this part of the world, an area that is familiar to me. Being transported by Petersen to the monument is as close as some will come to visiting it, and I imagine the heroes of this book, and Petersen himself, will be quite happy with that.

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

A murdered, self-taught archeologist dentist, a National Park ranger, a disillusioned German dermatologist, an assassin named Scissors, two hapless brothers (one "tall and thin and off-kilter," the other resembling a "burnt stump"), a Japanese video game designer, a Princeton doctoral candidate, a conspiracy theorist recluse, sister wives and numerous other intriguing characters converge near Bryce Canyon National Park in Picnic in the Ruins, Todd Robert Petersen's darkly comic, madcap thriller with overarching social themes.

When artifact collector Bruce Cluff is killed, several maps are stolen from his home. What the maps show and who wants them is the greater plot arc, supported by a series of underlying threads that add to the mystery and lunacy. Sophia Shepard is researching her thesis on the ethics of preserving ancient artifacts ("One person's artifact is another person's ancestor"). Tourist Reinhardt Kupfer, disillusioned with the U.S. and his tour group, departs on his own "quest." Paul Thrift, park ranger and Sophia's semi-romantic friend, takes her on an outing to one of the secret map locations where she learns things she doesn't want to know. Not long after, they find themselves in a shootout and on the run with Reinhardt.

Unsurprisingly, Petersen (Rift) teaches creative writing and screen studies at Southern Utah University. Picnic is wildly creative and easily envisioned. The cultural appropriation and preservation lessons are thick, but they come by an honest need to avoid being engulfed by the blackly humorous, action-packed adventure. This fun caper stands up to some needed mindfulness.

If like the bumbling of the Coen Brothers movies mixed with a thriller like thread running through, this is the book to read. Highly recommend.