Review: The Black Kachina

Summary: In the desert badlands of Southern California, Air Force Colonel Maggie Black loses a cruise missile equipped with powerful explosives, reporter Jordan Scott returns a dead shaman's magic basket, and a bitter half-breed named Asdrubal Torres hears the Great Spirit tell him to refill Lake Cahuilla, an ancient sea that once covered much of California. Colonel Maggie, by losing a powerful weapon, and reporter Scott, by restoring the local tribe's enchanted basket, provide Torres with exactly the tools he needs. Now Maggie and Jordan race against time, the desert, and Torres's cunning plan to stop a devastating flood designed to kill tens of thousands. -- Down & Out Books

Booking Pap Pap is back... and probably for the last time in 2017. His latest read was a thriller called THE BLACK KACHINA by Jack Getze. Here are his thoughts:

The main character in THE BLACK KACHINA is Lieutenant Colonel Maggie Black, a former Air Force pilot who lost her arm in a combat accident during the Iraqi War. Now fitted with a robotic prosthetic, Maggie can no longer fly but has been assigned the lead in a project developing a highly secretive new weapon. Things go well until a B-52 bomber carrying the experimental weapon goes missing near an Air Force Facility in California. Maggie career depends on her finding the weapon before it falls into the wrong hands.

Maggie’s hunt is complicated by Asdrubal Torres, a member of the Cahuilla Native American tribe. It seems that Torres, under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, sees the wreckage of the B-52 as a sign that he has been chosen by Kachina, the Spirit, to refill Lake Cahuilla, long ago destroyed by the building of Hoover Dam and the rechanneling of the Colorado River waters. His mission is to find the weapon and use it to destroy Hoover Dam and restore the lake.

In addition to featuring a physically handicapped middle-aged woman as his main character, author Jack Getze creates some other interesting characters. There is no question in understanding which characters are heroic and which are villainous. Torres is characterized as a crazed killer who will stop at nothing to fulfill his “destiny”. Torres partner, Henry Melancon, is a psychopath ex-con who has had significant Navy-Seal type training while serving in the Mexican military. Jordon Scott, young San Diego newspaper reporter, meets Maggie while writing a report on the lost weapon and becomes romantically involved. Jordon is further tied to the story when he returns a water basket that his family has had for years, to the Cahuilla tribe and learns that his great-grandfather may have killed to get the basket. According to Cahuilla legend, the basket may have been used to fill Lake Cahuilla.

Although the characters and story line may be a little far-fetched, Getze does bring some attention to the risk of the Southern California water supply which is totally dependent on the Hoover Dam.

The Black Kachina is an exciting suspense thriller interspersed with romance and humor. The interesting characters and the unusual storyline makes it a worthwhile read.

Thanks to Saichek Publicity for providing a review copy of this novel and to Booking Pap Pap for his review.