(2011) Longmire is drawn into the search for an escaped convict up into the mountains during a blizzard. Becomes a monologue with very few characters except Walt, a ghost of the slain boy's father and his prey, Shade. Draws heavily from Dante's Inferno which is an integral part of the story. In the end Walt slays Shade with an Indian lance that he gets from the ghost(?) and barely survives. No one believes him when he recounts his experience, but he knows(?) he was right. Pretty good but a lot different from the other Longmire books. Did miss the other characters that usually inhabit his world though.KIRKUS REVIEWFor Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire (Junkyard Dogs, 2010, etc.), the pursuit of a vicious murderer through a killer ice storm in the Bighorn Mountains adds up to a cold day in hell.Sly, elusive Raynaud Shade is a homicidal maniac and a lawman's nightmare. But at last he's been caught. The confessed slayer of a 7-year-old boy is on his way to the slammer, almost certainly for the rest of his bloodthirsty life. And he knows it. So Absaroka County Sheriff Longmire, who has him in his custody, is quite reasonably uneasy. Not only is Shade a textbook psychopath, profoundly remorseless, he's begun professing an affinity for Sheriff Walt, as if they were somehow partners in delusion, as if Walt, too, were ?possessed by evil spirits? that forced him to kill on command. All of which is as unsettling to Walt as it is unavoidable, since the body of Owen White Buffalo, the dead boy in question, was discovered in Walt's jurisdiction. The transport van advances circumspectly toward its destination until, in the mind-blowing ferocity of a sudden mountain storm, the slippery Shade manages to escape. Now a complex game's afoot as lawman chases madman. Before it's played out, the Bighorns, icily nonjudgmental, will have had their way with Walt, narrowing the sanity gap.Deft as always, but dearly missed from this stark, wintry tale is grizzled Walt's much younger lover, his feisty, tormenting, adorable girl of summer.Pub Date: June 6th, 2011ISBN: 978-0-670-02277-9Page count: 320ppPublisher: VikingReview Posted Online: May 4th, 2011Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15th, 2011

3.5. This one felt short and it's a dreamy, mysterious one where Walt spends a night alone on a mountain, in a blizzard, chasing a bad guy. He hallucinates but he doesn't know it and the reader is left trying to decipher what was real from what was imagined.

( )

While I still enjoyed it I will say this was my least favorite Longmire book. ( )

"Hell is empty, and all the devils are here." p.81 ( )

A steady driving book w good descriptions of struggling up a mountain through snow and storms. A few places obvious, campy, and poorly described but the ending was tight and not dragged out. Thoughtful and not overly emotional which it could have been. It gave me pause and brought on thoughts of past adventures and ones ultimate demise. (Which is not unhealthy). ( )

I only gave this book 4 stars because I got a little frustrated with the main character once again going after a killer alone and putting himself in unnecessary danger. L ( )

The land and the weather are like characters in Johnson's novels.

Hell Is Empty starts out with a bang, bogs down badly in the middle and never really recovers. There's a bunch of spiritual/delusional stuff (you never really figure out where the line is here) that's obtuse, repetitive and, finally, annoying--especially as Johnson appears to be using spiritual/delusional experiences to explain plot threads he can't seem to figure out how to wrap up the old-fashioned way, which is to say, through hard work.

Still, early on there are lines that beg to be read out loud to the nearest person who will listen. It's definitely worth the read, especially the first third, which is exquisitely written: Pitch perfect dialogue.

I'd give this 3 1/2 stars, but I rounded down because the author has had 6 books before this to practice with, so I expected more. I did enjoy the book, but mostly because I like the people and the places, and have gotten to know them over the course of the previous 6 books. But the plot itself wasn't that compelling. I think with the Covid isolation, perhaps I appreciated it as a chance to sit back and listen to a bunch of interesting people talking, telling stories, and generally bs'ing about life in a very cold place. I like the way people generally seem to help each other, when they aren't trying to kill each other, that is. And I especially like Walt Longmire's dry humor.

But like sitting around listening to a group of people talking, it occasionally gets a bit boring and slow, plus it's hard not being able to join in with my own opinions.

I listened to the audiobook version, narrated by George Guidall, who does an outstanding job for these books, as well as many others I've heard his narrate. I think his narration is an improvement over reading.

By the way, the title comes from Walt's answer to Ruby about what he's doing... "Hell is empty, and all the devils are here." This is a quote from the first act of William Shakespeare's The Tempest. Walt is a pretty literate guy. ( )

Another great Longmire book. And like the book before, it was impossible to stop reading when the story took off. ( )

Another great Longmire book. And like the book before, it was impossible to stop reading when the story took off. ( )

Not my favorite of the Longmire books. Still a good outing though. There was just so much effort and hardship and maybe just a teensy bit too much on the hallucination/mysticism front. ( )

When a prisoner exchange goes sideways, Walt tracks the fugitives through a late spring mountain blizzard. The seventh installment of the Walt Longmire series is less a mystery than it is a man vs nature (vs man) story. It also sets up some things to come in the next few books (I hope). ( )

I enjoyed this book. I loved the spiritual aspects and of course the setting is marvelous. However, at the end, Mr. Johnson extended some of the final scenes just a little too much for me. The descriptions were excellent, but it just went on too long. ( )

So much better than the tv ep that drew from this book. I was worried that I'd just feel frozen after spending so much time in the WY blizzard with the Sherriff. But there were wide open spaces in that blizzard. Almost makes me want to read the Inferno. Almost. ( )

I am seriously hooked on these books....Read the first in the series and now I can't quit reading them. They have all been excellent. ( )

Holy giant piles of *censored*, this is like the stories I grew up with around the fire come to life, and in the best way possible. Writing's on point throughout, and the wee wobbles weren't - and if this is the direction these novels are headed in, go go go. ( )

The Walt Longmire series is one of my favorites. I'm reading through the books slowly, savoring each story. I like the characters, the setting and the plots. I was a huge fan of the television show, but I like the books even more. The characters are a bit different and the plots are richer. I view the show and the books as two different visions of the same characters/plots and enjoy each for what they are.

Hell is Empty is the 7th book in the series. Three dangerous convicts escape from custody. One of them confessed to killing a 10-year old boy years before and burying the body in the surrounding Big Horn Mountains. The convicts disappear into the mountains during a snowstorm, forcing Longmire to track them into the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area. The final showdown just might be Longmire's last....

Another great book in the Longmire series! The plot is a little bit similar to a previous book (Longmire trapped in a life-or-death situation in the snow and aided by tribal spirits), but I didn't mind. The situation was different enough that it didn't seem like a needless plot recycle. I loved the ending. The showdown with the bad guys was awesome....and the little supernatural nuances added to the suspense.

I listened to the audio version of this book. George Guidell always gives an outstanding performance! He voices Longmire perfectly...and gives Vic the proper attitude. The audio is just over 8.5 hours long and a great listening experience!

I'm reading and listening my way through this series slowly so I can savor each book. I was so sad when the television series ended, so I'm avoiding catching up with the author on this series. I don't want to have to wait a year or more for a Longmire fix....I prefer to have a trip to Absaroka County available on-demand. So taking my time. :) I'm glad I am not impatient. This series is great....so there is always a waiting list for each audio book on my library's digital site. I finish one...and then put the next book on hold. It all works out! :) ( )

A brutal criminal Chase story that descends (ascends) into a frozen hell. It includes a guide to the circles of hell.
In many ways a hella journey for Longmire complete with the core self Discovery for him,
It certainly stands out as unique from the prior novels. It is both a compelling story and a journey into another's mind. ( )

Another in the Walt Longmire Beats the Elements and the Bad Guys, With a Lot of Help from the Spirit World series. This one made it really hard to believe a human could endure what Walt endures and live. But then, maybe he didn't---maybe he died and came back. A couple times. He's not even sure himself. Johnson, like Robert B. Parker, has a lot of respect for his readers' intelligence and familiarity with literature, in this case Dante's Inferno. He didn't so much make me want to read it, as make me wish I had read it. This is an adventure of mythic and allegorical proportions. Highly recommended if you like that sort of thing. And there's an eclectic, highly satisfying (to me, anyway) reading list at the end.
June 2020 ( )

In 'Hell Is Empty' Craig Johnson has attempted something very ambitious and done it pretty well but I hope he doesn't feel the need to do it again.

Unlike its predecessors, 'Hell Is Empty' doesn't have a mystery at its heart. We know from the beginning who the bad guys are, even if we don't know exactly why they're doing what they're doing. The FBI have, for various plausible reasons that they'll kick themselves for later, transported some very bad men into the Wyoming mountains just before a major ice storm (Hey, it's May, what did you expect at that altitude?). Of course, things go wrong, people die and the rest of the book is about Walt's relentless, lone pursuit of the men up the mountain in the storm.

At the beginning, this reads like a relatively normal hunt-the-bad-guys plot, with Walt at the centre bringing his unique mix of dry wit, erudite commentary, dogged determination and decisive action to the chase.

Then, as Walt gets tired, the altitude climbs and the weather gets worse, we move into something that feels more like a Vision Quest. It's not clear whether Walt is being guided by a real person (a character we met in a previous book) or by a spirit guide appearing as that person or whether Walt is just hallucinating as his refusal to give up bumps into the physical effects of hypothermia.

I think Craig Johnson does a splendid job of walking this is it real or isn't it line while keeping the tension high, the action constant and still finding time for to share Walt's reflections on Dante's 'inferno' and the idea that the worst hell is in the mind and Walt's deep understanding of how a monster like the man he is chasing is created and the terrible harm that he does.

The final scene at the top of the mountain is beautifully done. It's dramatic, visually stunning and works as a conclusion to both the mystical and the material explanations of Walt's quest.

The epilogue was also very distinctive. It went beyond the 'let's wrap up the loose ends and finish on a positive note' scope of the traditional epilogue and showed that Walt can't just shrug off his experience and step back into his old life. That rang true to me and I admired it.

BUT...

Although I could see that this was both a bold book to write and that it was well written, it wasn't as much fun as usual. Walt's head is a fascinating place to visit but an exhausting place to live in. In the books so far, Walt has been supported by a cast of interesting characters who aid or obstruct him in solving mysteries and bringing the bad guys to justice. In 'Hell Is Empty' we have nearly half a book that is Walt all the time and I found it tiring.

So, I'm hoping book eight, 'As The Crow Flies' brings me back to more familiar, less ambitious territory that's easier for me to enjoy.

Still, I recognise that, as is the way with Spirit Quests, the Walt who came down the mountain is not the same Walt who went up it and I'm intrigued to see how that change will manifest in future stories. ( )

Another good read. Good suspense. Bad guy is really bad. Love it when Walt connects with Indian spirit world. Note premonition of things to come. Bad things? ( )

Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson is the 7th book in the Walt Longmire series. In this one, Sheriff Longmire is tracking an escaped psychopath through the Bighorn Mountains during a blizzard. The psychopath has recently confessed to the murder of a young Native American boy who turns out to be the grandson of Virgil White Buffalo, a friend and spiritual guide of Walt’s. Walt sets off alone on the killers trail, and soon is past the point of return as the weather deteriorates, a wildfire has been set and roars down the mountain toward him, and the killer lies in ambush.

This is a series that I enjoy but this book was a little too spiritual for my taste. Walt is accompanied on his trip by a spirit guide and the whole story seems to be a deliberate spin on Dante’s Inferno, a book that Walt’s deputy was reading at the beginning of the story. I also missed the presence of the regular characters like Henry Standing Bear, and his feisty deputy Vic Moretti. Nevertheless, I am still a fan of the series and will definitely be reading on. ( )

Longmire finds himself in survival mode as he pursues escaped convicts and their hostages through a blizzard in the Bighorn mountains. Much of the book seems to take place inside Sheriff Walt's head, who is apparently hallucinating. The connection to Dante"s Inferno made it more than just a survival story. This novel was heavy on psychology and short on mystery. ( )

This book was painfully agonizing to read! ( )

I love Craig Johnson's writing; this is the sixth in the Longmire series I've read. However, this story is weak. There is little mystery and even less plot. Longmire is engaged in a super-human chase of an insane criminal whose objective is unclear and, when finally revealed, is lame. Much of the book seems to take place inside Sheriff Walt's head, who is apparently hallucinating. Johnson's strength is in character development, and I enjoyed the return of Virgil White Buffalo to Walt's life, I'm afraid it may have only been in Walt's mind.
So, while I will read others, this didn't measure up to their level of others in the series.

I listened to the audible audition and enjoyed George Guidall's reading as much as ever. ( )