I picked up Indian Killer at the library because I'm on a Sherman Alexie kick and this was the only book of his available. Being a psychological thriller about murder, it's not exactly the type of book I normally read. I was a bit apprehensive as I started reading, afraid I'd get nightmares or something, but the book quickly drew me in. Indian Killer explores themes of identity and isolation across whites and Native Americans. There's the Indian man, adopted by white parents, who longs to be a "real" Indian. There's the white man who, as an orphaned child, convinced himself he was a "real" Indian and never let go of the idea. There's the half-white, half-Indian man who self-identifies as an Indian, but whose white father tried to beat the "hostile Indian" out of him as a child. There's the Indian woman, raised on a reservation but now in college, who is fiercely proud of her heritage, yet feels separated from her people because she's become a well-educated urban Indian. There's the white man who romanticizes the idea of Indians and considers himself an expert on Indians. And finally, there's the white man who feels a sense of guilt over the injustices Indians have suffered at the white man's hand.
This book lacked the wit and lyricism of the other Sherman Alexie books I've read, but I guess the genre didn't exactly call for it, either. As in his other books, the dialogue is powerful. It's well-written, and delves into the minds of many more characters than I would have expected, though I'm not sure I understood everyone's motivation. It ties up some loose ends I didn't even think would be tied, yet leaves a gaping hole where I felt sure I would be given answers.
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