THE DREAM STALKER

After too many years of poverty and neglect, the Arapahos and Shoshones of Wyoming's Wind River Reservation are finally going to clean up—by accepting the United Power Company's nuclear waste, which will be laid to rest securely beneath Alexander Legeau's family ranch. United president Paul Bryant is delighted. So is Legeau, who's offered to sell the ranch as the triumphant fulfillment of a lifelong dream. And so are Matthew Bosse, the elder of the Arapaho tribal council, who proposed the facility in the first place, and most of his people, who see United's promised cash payout as only the beginning of a sorely- needed stream of jobs and income. About the only people who aren't happy, in fact, are Father John O'Malley, the alcoholic mission pastor who finds the murder of cancer-ridden, conscience- stricken Gabriel Many Horses suspiciously well-timed, and Vicky Holden, the activist lawyer who's convinced that any deal that looks too good to be true must be. As they continue to battle their impossible mutual attraction, Father John and Vicky (The Ghost Walker, 1996, etc.) work, together and separately, to figure out who wants United's radioactive waste enough to kill for it. When everybody in the book has basically the same motive, you can't expect too much in the way of suspense or surprise. But Coel's third is swift and compelling, with her usual light, penetrating touch with the Arapaho and their neighbors.