Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Its strange to talk about Steven Seagal in 2019.
In 1988, when he broke into Hollywoodswordfighting bad guys in driveways?
In 1991, when he was arguably theworst host in the history ofSaturday Night Live?
In 2006, when he released the appalling blues guitar albumMojo Priestwith the first singleAlligator Ass?Fine.
What reason could there possibly be?
It reflects well on the nations book-buyers that none of this guarantees a fiction best seller.
Theres a lot to unpack.
Lets start with the cover.
kick off the cover and you find a dedication to Native Americans, the tribal police, U.S.
Marshals, and all like-minded folk who recognize the threat of the deep state.
But always remember that the truth comes in many forms.
You see what Im saying about the blurred line between reality and fantasy.
Arpaios foreword is one page long.
The action ofShadow Wolvestakes place entirely in Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joes home turf.
Linger awhile on this page.
How many novels are introduced by a disgraced 86-year-old cowboy of the American West?
Marshal, martial artist, musician, author, political leader, and activist.
No word on Seagals political aspirations in the Grand Canyon State.)
For the sake of comedy and simplicity, lets attribute the words in the book to Seagal himself.
With that business out of the way, the story begins in earnest.
Seagals attitude toward race is unique among artists of page and screen.
He wants to be that guy too.
This is the fundamental oxymoron of the Seagal-iverse.
Gode is that rare Native American protagonist who exoticizes himself.
The wolf kisses him on the forehead.
Twice in the course of the story, Gode receives a forehead kiss from a wolf.
Twice he pulls a gun on his grandfathers ghost.
But their role in the fight against deep state operatives within the U.S. government doesnt appear to be documented.
(Or is it?)
(Could this be the source of the infamousprayer rug meme?)
All we need to know is that they are the bad guys and they are definitely in cahoots.
Seagal does have notable strengths.
Character names, for instance.
His stomach was sinking like the first car on the steep downward side of a tall roller coaster.
The big man moved completely out of his way like a cloud riding the evening wind.
Sunday had an accent similar to the late character actor Chief Dan George.
Its difficult to say for sure what really happens in this book or how it ends.
Itis a poorly written story from a deluded mind.
It would be perfectly acceptable to conclude thatShadow Wolveshas no value and accomplishes nothing.
We could investigate and experiment and discover objective truths.
If we could understand the world, then we could improve it, perfect it.
Two World Wars later, we lost that faith.
We hadnt created a perfect world: Science and industry were just bringing us better ways to destroy ourselves.
Our narrators became unreliable, they had biases and flaws and blind spots.
They could mislead us, intentionally or not.
The truth became subjective.
If no one knows anything about anything, really, what do we have the authority to write about?
Suddenly we were drowning in authors named Matt writing characters named Patt.
We were reflecting on ourselves and we were skeptical.
Steven Seagal crashes through these cultural developments like Kool-Aid Man with a katana.
He gives us something beyond the unreliable narrator: an unreliable author.
He has never asked himself, What is real?
and doesnt feel the need to start now.
Its a lovely kind of self-hypnosis: to create your own truth and believe it utterly.
To ignore the intelligence agencies, the statistics on illegal-immigrant crime and border crossings, the indictments approaching.
To lie to yourself without realizing it.
Maybe this is what comes after Postmodernism.
Opening their mouths soundlessly, walking by mirrors with no reflection.
Happy and already dead.
Anyway … two stars?
