I had never read any of Preston and Child’s books, but when the blurb noted that it took place in the southwest around Chaco Canyon and had to do with the ancient inhabitants, my long-standing interests in archeology were piqued.
The story begins with Nora Kelly, a young FBI agent, who finds
herself out in the desert trying to figure out why a healthy woman threw off
all her clothes and died of heatstroke in a remote area of New Mexico. Another
death occurs, and further investigation reveals another death in the past and
the potential of a cult being built by a professor at the state university.
Professor Oskarbi had been an acolyte of a Mexican mystic
and then wrote a financially lucrative book about him. It also allowed him to
build a coterie of young female grad students who had plenty of time in between
studies to play house with their idol. Over the years, the coterie intensified into
a cult that carried out summer research into the ancient residents of mysterious
and remote Galina Canyon. The scientific digs apparently also featured the
practice of ancient rituals, drug taking, and lots of overnight tent hopping.
To prepare you for the tilt into fantasy, the authors tell
you that FBI research has found that bizarre cults can be formed by intelligent
people, like PhD grad students in anthropology, as well as by religious nuts. The
professorial cult demands suicide, blood sacrifices, and violent torture. It is
fueled by a real evil order behind reality that rises out of ritual fire and smoke.
Detection disappears and the bloody climax, can’t even be mentioned in the final
FBI report because nobody will believe it. I think I’ll stick with Tony or Anne
Hillerman for my Navajo-oriented fiction.
I give it a 2 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment