Rating: 
Summary: dullsville
Review: Too many stupid mistakes and obvious holes not to mention very dull... lifeless....flat.
Rating: 
Summary: Tularosa
Review: Tularosa (April 1996) The first in the Kevin Kerney series.
Tularosa -- the place of reddish willows in Spanish -- holds the key to Kevin Kerney's past and his future. Ex-chief of detectives in the Santa Fe Police department, retired by a shot-up leg, Kerney is drawn back into action when Navajo Indian Terry Yazzi, his ex-partner and the man responsible for his injuries, asks him to locate his son, reported missing from the high-security WhiteSands Missile Range in southern New Mexico.
To find Sammy Yazzi, Kerney must track clues that lead deep into the histories of the region -- Native American, Hispanic,
and Anglo -- and surprisingly, into his own family's ranching past. And he must deal with the complicated feelings
triggered by the army's investigator, Captain Sara Brannon, a fiery young officer as formidable as she is attractive.
As Sammy Yazzi's trail spirals into a web of murder, treason, and the smuggling of priceless artefacts, Kerney and Sara
travel an accelerating arc across the New Mexico scene -- from the boutique-ridden plaza of Santa Fe, through the sharp-edged beauty of the high desert, to bordertown gambling dens -- to a final confrontation in which, both wounded and at risk, they must fight for their lives and for each other against opponent who hold all the odds.There are several appealing aspects to McGarrity's Kevin Kerney series. One is the spectacular background of Sante Fe and New Mexico the author has chosen as the locale for his continuing series. You CAN pick up any of the Kevin Kerney books and without too much trouble be swept up in the strengths and weaknesses of Chief Kerney, but it is a bit easier to start with the first in the series (Tularosa) to not feel too lost in the character interaction. As you learn through reading the series, the Kerney family has been part of this area for many generations. Tularosa sets some of the main character's into play and gives the particulars to what makes Kearney tick- Chief Kerney's being severly wounded. It introduces Air Force Captain Sara Brannon and Kerney. Which becomes an important relationship in subsequent books in the series.
Most of Michael McGarrity's books can run from scenes of brutal violence to serene appreciation of the New Mexico high desert. With enough excitement running the length of the book to the fast paced ending.
I've read through the entire Kevin Kerney series by Michael McGarrity. I would put Tularosa in the 4 * range. Alot of the book was used in development of the characters and such. This isn't a bad thing, in fact I think this has made the series better for it. John Row
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