BROKEN DOLLS

In Dutch’s thriller, an FBI agent and his colleagues try to stop a serial killer terrorizing an Indigenous reservation.

FBI Special Agent Matthew Michael Gryffin gets called away from a leisurely interlude with famed romance novelist Mary McKenzie—a chopper picks him up from an Alaskan cruise ship and flies him to Arizona, where someone is brutally murdering women and dressing them up like ceremonial Kachina dolls on the Hopi reservation. While the tribal police and the Tribal Council are wary of working with authorities outside of the reservation, they’re also unnerved by the vicious deaths. Gryffin respects the Council’s guidelines, which somewhat limit his usual scrupulous crime-scene investigative techniques. Fortunately, he’s teamed up with the capable Tom Evehema, who’s Hopi, and with the equally skilled Tribal Deputy Talayumptewa. Gryffin, Tom, and Deputy Tally are determined to unmask the culprit before the killer strikes again. Dutch’s follow-up to Mary McKenzie (2023) showcases a vivid setting—the story is rich with Hopi customs (they abandon a home if someone dies inside) and references to the real-life land dispute between the Hopi and the Navajo tribes. The killer’s narrative perspective provides insight, though this doesn’t immediately identify him; his murders are chilling, even when detailed after the fact (“Each body’s feet and hands were skinned”). Standouts among the cast include Gryffin, who suffers painful migraines; Tom, whose tribe doesn’t trust him because he’s with the FBI; and Tally, who capably juggles her responsibilities as a Hopi and as a deputy. As the trio meticulously examines evidence, they convincingly work toward finding the killer and a possible motive as well. Gryffin and Mary share a few romantic scenes, but Mary spends much of this sophomore installment as a supporting character. Everything culminates in a final act that, while including a shock or two, is largely anticlimactic.

Enthralling characters and backdrops elevate this grim murder mystery.