Truth & Bright Water

In this winning bildungsroman, King (Green Grass, Running Water) demonstrates once again his extraordinarily moving vision of contemporary Native America. The book follows the relationship between two boys, narrator Tecumseh and Lum, and the story, set in motion by a mystery, takes place among Blackfoot Indians living on the U.S./Canadian border in two towns separated by the Shield river (Truth is in Montana, and Bright Water is on an Ottawa Indian reservation). The youths witness a woman dump the contents of a suitcase off a river bluff and then jump into the abyss herself, but by the time they get to the spot, she's nowhere to be seen. Other mysteries are created by significant homecomings: Tecumseh's free-spirited, world-traveling Aunt Cassie is in town, but no one will tell Tecumseh why; and ""famous Indian artist"" Monroe Swimmer buys the old mission church on the reservation and moves in. Swimmer is a trickster who paints his hilltop abode in trompe l'oeil clouds and sky and sets artificial buffalo around it, so that to the naked eye below, it's almost invisible. Closer in tone to King's debut, Medicine River, than to the antics of Green Grass, Running Water, this book exhibits the author's keen powers of observation and captures the essence of reservation life with dark humor and cutting satire. But the wry humor mediates and belies desperation, with 15-year-old Tecumseh fixated on getting his mother to reconcile with his dreamy but shiftless father. All plots come together, some in tragedy, and all mysteries are solved as Indian Days approaches. This sharp-edged novel is also King's sweetest; there's plenty of magic, yet it's also his most realistic book thus far. Readers familiar with King's work will revel in it, while new readers will discover his extraordinary narrative power. Agent, Lisa Bankoff, ICM. (Sept.)