Hardrock Stiff

Into Thin Air, Zigal's first book about Kurt Muller, was good; his second takes a quantum leap up to terrific. Muller is a complex, believable character, an ex-hippie who, 11 years ago, decided on a lark to run for sheriff of the Colorado county that includes Aspen. His marriage has already fallen apart; now he's wondering if the strain of the job on his six-year-old son, Lennon, is worth it. Another six-year-old boy--Lennon's friend Hunter Carr--is at the center of a story that begins when Hunter's grandfather, an old miner named Ned Carr, is blown up in his apparently worthless silver mine. A dedicated troublemaker, Ned has irritated everyone in the area, from the violent environmental activists called the Green Briars to an even more dangerous (and better funded) right-wing group known as the Free West Rebellion. But as gripping as the many action scenes are, what really lifts this novel to excellence is the way Zigal writes about fathers and children, the legacies the former leave the latter and the difficulties of negotiating between loyalty and independence. Throughout this strong, sad, constantly involving story, Zigal renders the deep bond between people and the land with a blend of complexity and conflict that enriches the genre. (Dec.)