Strike

Gun Pedersen is an ex-baseball player reluctantly turned detective in this mystery involving Babe Chandler, a teenager who may have killed his best friend, a young Native American from a nearby Minnesota reservation. Unfortunately for the reader, Gun himself remains a mystery as he attempts to solve the murder; we are given bits and pieces, snatches of Gun's memories, but he is altogether too detached a hero. Assisting Gun in his search for the killer are some secondary characters whom Enger ( Comeback ) also fails to explore fully: Gun's independent, journalist girlfriend; a hard-drinking sheriff; and a crusty old man who used to pitch to Babe Ruth in the off-season. The story itself, skillfully blending murder with the activities of a radical Native American environmental group and the possibly clandestine dealings of a too-smooth geologist tracking hidden gold, is compelling but marred by awkward phrasing and worse metaphors--``a bunch as jovial as ten jocks with a mathematician to slap around.'' (July)