Rating: 
Summary: unraveled
Review: All her life Lucy wanted to go into space and now at forty her goal is days away from happening. It's too bad she can't anticipate the pleasure for she fears for her life. An ex-lover stalks her and means to destroy her and her dream. In desperation Lucy calls up the one man who will be able to help her. He will be motivated by the secret that she kept from him these years.Forensic geologist Em Hansen is happier than she has been in quite a long time as she has finally made love with the new man in her life FBI Agent Jack Sampler. She's convinced he's the one she's been looking for all her life. The morning after, Jack receives a phone call that abruptly has him leaving without telling her where he is going. Through mutual friends, Em is able to track Jack to Florida where he has to stop Lucy's ex-lover from committing an act of terrorism against the space shuttle. Em finds herself in the middle of the action surrounded by terrorists with biological weapons of mass destruction. KILLER DUST stars Em Hansen who is connected to Jack who is linked to Lucy who is tied to the killer but there are no degrees to Kevin Bacon. How these links were formed and the actions taken because of these ties are just as important as the who-done-it. The heroine has some tough choices to make in future stories but in this one she plays a vital role in stopping terrorists before they can perpetrate another despicable act on American soil. Sarah Andrews keep getting better with every book she writes. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: strong Em Hansen tale
Review: All her life Lucy wanted to go into space and now at forty her goal is days away from happening. It's too bad she can't anticipate the pleasure for she fears for her life. An ex-lover stalks her and means to destroy her and her dream. In desperation Lucy calls up the one man who will be able to help her. He will be motivated by the secret that she kept from him these years. Forensic geologist Em Hansen is happier than she has been in quite a long time as she has finally made love with the new man in her life FBI Agent Jack Sampler. She's convinced he's the one she's been looking for all her life. The morning after, Jack receives a phone call that abruptly has him leaving without telling her where he is going. Through mutual friends, Em is able to track Jack to Florida where he has to stop Lucy's ex-lover from committing an act of terrorism against the space shuttle. Em finds herself in the middle of the action surrounded by terrorists with biological weapons of mass destruction. KILLER DUST stars Em Hansen who is connected to Jack who is linked to Lucy who is tied to the killer but there are no degrees to Kevin Bacon. How these links were formed and the actions taken because of these ties are just as important as the who-done-it. The heroine has some tough choices to make in future stories but in this one she plays a vital role in stopping terrorists before they can perpetrate another despicable act on American soil. Sarah Andrews keep getting better with every book she writes. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Em Hansen needs to grow up
Review: Em Hansen and cohorts venture to Florida in this mixed up mystery of African dust clouds, stalking, the space shuttle and anthrax. Sarah Andrews has gotten progressively better at the craft of writing and the middle of this book is eminently readable. Unfortunately the book is also highly flawed. For those unfamiliar with Em Hansen, she sometimes refers to herself as a "forensic geologist," but she is actually a mostly unemployed geologist that sometimes tries to solve mysteries. One of the problems of this series of books is that Em seems to be just drifting along, going nowhere in particular. She needs to find a job that will allow her to do her detective work. Perhaps she could be a private investigator to geologists (sort of like "trainer to the stars") or maybe an FBI agent. In this book, there are three main characters--none of which are gainfully employed! Em never seems to make it through any of her novels with a job, and the pretense here is that she might become a graduate student. She is NOT a forensic geologist--in fact, at one point in this novel there is some forensic geology to be done--and Em hands it off to real experts. At the end of this novel, there is no plot resolution and the separate plot lines are left separate and mostly unexplained. Still, Em Hansen is an interesting character and worth continuing into future, hopefully better-plotted, novels. The author should be given some leeway given the revelation that she tells us about in the afterword.
Rating:
Summary: What happened Ms. Andrews?
Review: I loved the first few books in this series-an intriguing heroine,interesting locales and characters, lots of instructive geology and good plot development. In the last volume(Fault Lines), things seem to begin to go wrong with Em as she began to take on the characteristics of the irrational victim. In this most recent mystery, things fall comletely apart! The scientific "dust" portion of the plot simply vanishes near the end, all of the concluding action takes place off stage so we have virtually no idea what happened, almost all of the characters behave without an ounce of sense and Em seems to dissolve into incomprehensibility. A clue to what has happened to this talented writers efforts here may be contained in an afterward in which she discusses the fact that she herself was once stalked with apparently devastating consequences. Ms. Andrew, these have been wonderful books. Surely it's time for Em to grow away from abusive men and develop her forensic geologic profession into a real career with all the literary possibilities this should offer. I WILL read the next book but it will be the last if this sort of nonsense continues.
Rating:
Summary: Too Many Disparate Plots, But Still Excellent!!!
Review: I read the previous Em Hanson book as my introduction to Andrews' forensic geology novels. I loved it so much that I was disappointed when it ended. I was so happy to find Em's story continued in this new novel, Killer Dust. I also ordered her previous novels, which I haven't yet read, just on the strength of the one novel I read. Andrews is an excellent writer. Certain things about this novel were fantastic and exciting, while other things were disappointing and confusing. What I loved most about this novel was the science. I had never heard about the dust blowing across the Atlantic, from Africa, forming the basis of the soil in all the Caribbean Islands, turning sunsets redder from Venezuela to Miami, and even transporting live locusts from Africa, as well as dangerous pathogens which kill Caribbean coral and dust which gives severe asthma to Caribbean Islanders-especially the dramatic increases in the dust since 1970. Em Hansen's character reads some books, mentioned by name, that gave me a good starting point to research all this on the internet. I easily found confirmation of everything she mentioned in the book. It's all really fascinating and based on excellent science. Furthermore, I found it of particular interest since I live in Africa--in Morocco, where all this dust originates--while I also have family in Florida. Most of the book takes place in Florida, and I learned many things about that state I did not know, in spite of having visited there. What I did not like about this particular book was that it left too many loose ends, and I wound up feeling confused about some of the things that had happened. I felt like there was something wrong with me, that I had to go back and reread a number of parts, trying to make sense of what was happening. I felt much better after going to Amazon.com and reading that other reviewers had the same problem. It is mainly only the last third of the book that gave me this problem. I think the book has some great ideas and plots, but that the problem is the author has tried to put TOO MANY separate plots into the same book. Maybe she could have separated the plots into two different books, and it might have worked better. She has tried to combine NASA, U.S. politics, George Bush and the War on Terrorism, the blowing African dust question, and anthrax and bioterrorism, together with the main character's personal life with her disappearing boyfriend, and stalking of a woman astronaut. It's just too many disparate things for one novel. The thing that really did bother me at the end of the book was that I could just never figure out, even with looking back and rereading, WHO pushed Calvin Wheat (the African dust researcher) off the cruise ship, and WHY!!! I also felt very confused by the whole commando-island scene, not making a lot of sense out of what was happening, or why, or to whom, even after rereading it three times. I'm still waiting to find out MORE about Leah, Jack's mother. Maybe the NEXT novel will be able to answer some of these questions, in retrospect. Her last chapter explains a bit about why the issue of stalking is in the novel. The author explains that she herself, in her real life, was the victim of stalking for years, and that the police could/would do little to help her. She wanted to bring these issues to the forefront. She did do that, but I feel that if that was what she wanted to highlight, she should have made that about half the book, with one other major plot, such as the African dust, OR the anthrax question, OR the war on terrorism and U.S. politics. She was just too ambitious in this book. Correct treatment of all these plots would require a longer thriller, as opposed to a mystery. This was still a good book, and I still found it difficult to put down, in spite of the problems. If you are interested in science, stalking, or just the character of Em Hansen, read this book anyway. I am sure there will be more Em Hansen novels coming (as the book ends with her finding Jack, but we are still waiting to see what happens with their relationship). So if you like Em Hansen, definitely read this book so that you don't have a gap in your knowledge of what has happened to their relationship before the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Too Many Disparate Plots, But Still Excellent!!!
Review: I read the previous Em Hanson book as my introduction to Andrews' forensic geology novels. I loved it so much that I was disappointed when it ended. I was so happy to find Em's story continued in this new novel, Killer Dust. I also ordered her previous novels, which I haven't yet read, just on the strength of the one novel I read. Andrews is an excellent writer. Certain things about this novel were fantastic and exciting, while other things were disappointing and confusing. What I loved most about this novel was the science. I had never heard about the dust blowing across the Atlantic, from Africa, forming the basis of the soil in all the Caribbean Islands, turning sunsets redder from Venezuela to Miami, and even transporting live locusts from Africa, as well as dangerous pathogens which kill Caribbean coral and dust which gives severe asthma to Caribbean Islanders-especially the dramatic increases in the dust since 1970. Em Hansen's character reads some books, mentioned by name, that gave me a good starting point to research all this on the internet. I easily found confirmation of everything she mentioned in the book. It's all really fascinating and based on excellent science. Furthermore, I found it of particular interest since I live in Africa--in Morocco, where all this dust originates--while I also have family in Florida. Most of the book takes place in Florida, and I learned many things about that state I did not know, in spite of having visited there. What I did not like about this particular book was that it left too many loose ends, and I wound up feeling confused about some of the things that had happened. I felt like there was something wrong with me, that I had to go back and reread a number of parts, trying to make sense of what was happening. I felt much better after going to Amazon.com and reading that other reviewers had the same problem. It is mainly only the last third of the book that gave me this problem. I think the book has some great ideas and plots, but that the problem is the author has tried to put TOO MANY separate plots into the same book. Maybe she could have separated the plots into two different books, and it might have worked better. She has tried to combine NASA, U.S. politics, George Bush and the War on Terrorism, the blowing African dust question, and anthrax and bioterrorism, together with the main character's personal life with her disappearing boyfriend, and stalking of a woman astronaut. It's just too many disparate things for one novel. The thing that really did bother me at the end of the book was that I could just never figure out, even with looking back and rereading, WHO pushed Calvin Wheat (the African dust researcher) off the cruise ship, and WHY!!! I also felt very confused by the whole commando-island scene, not making a lot of sense out of what was happening, or why, or to whom, even after rereading it three times. I'm still waiting to find out MORE about Leah, Jack's mother. Maybe the NEXT novel will be able to answer some of these questions, in retrospect. Her last chapter explains a bit about why the issue of stalking is in the novel. The author explains that she herself, in her real life, was the victim of stalking for years, and that the police could/would do little to help her. She wanted to bring these issues to the forefront. She did do that, but I feel that if that was what she wanted to highlight, she should have made that about half the book, with one other major plot, such as the African dust, OR the anthrax question, OR the war on terrorism and U.S. politics. She was just too ambitious in this book. Correct treatment of all these plots would require a longer thriller, as opposed to a mystery. This was still a good book, and I still found it difficult to put down, in spite of the problems. If you are interested in science, stalking, or just the character of Em Hansen, read this book anyway. I am sure there will be more Em Hansen novels coming (as the book ends with her finding Jack, but we are still waiting to see what happens with their relationship). So if you like Em Hansen, definitely read this book so that you don't have a gap in your knowledge of what has happened to their relationship before the next book.
Rating:
Summary: Inconclusive, too convoluted, no resolution.
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. I have enjoyed the previous Em Hansen books but this one failed dismally. There were too many plots, too many loose ends and the main characters behaved like idiots. To expect the reader to accept that Em Hansen had to go running off to rescue Jack (who is an experienced FBI Agent)then to accept that he is also unstable with a some sort of weird split personality is really asking a lot. In the last 3 books Em Hansen had already lost credibility as far as I was concerned because of her behaviour in relationships, "victim" is a word that springs readily to mind. At the "end" of this the latest book( and I use the word "end" loosely because there was no ending ) I felt that I knew less than when I started. Sarah Andrews needs to get her act together or she will lose all her fans.
Rating:
Summary: Inconclusive, too convoluted, no resolution.
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. I have enjoyed the previous Em Hansen books but this one failed dismally. There were too many plots, too many loose ends and the main characters behaved like idiots. To expect the reader to accept that Em Hansen had to go running off to rescue Jack (who is an experienced FBI Agent)then to accept that he is also unstable with a some sort of weird split personality is really asking a lot. In the last 3 books Em Hansen had already lost credibility as far as I was concerned because of her behaviour in relationships, "victim" is a word that springs readily to mind. At the "end" of this the latest book( and I use the word "end" loosely because there was no ending ) I felt that I knew less than when I started. Sarah Andrews needs to get her act together or she will lose all her fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: The reader from Lawrence, Kansas, should have been Sarah Andrew' editor both in Fault Line and Killer Dust. (Both plot lines are weak, and the collaboration of a more skillful editor would have been very helpful.) However, I enjoyed both books very much because I love the solid science and geology that enjoyably informs a nonscientist like myself, Ms Andrews' brilliant descriptions of the physical world, and her uncanny ability to remind me that thoughtful, caring, and intelligent human beings are forced to make difficult, sometimes dangerous, moral choices in a chaotic and ever changing world. In Killer Dust I was delighted by the fact that Ms Andrews' dared to be political! I found myself cheering when she took some well-deserved shots at the foolish and self-serving ways of America's leaders, both scientific and political. Finely, Em is Em-tough, impetuous, emotional, foolish, intelligent, loving, loyal, crazy, stubborn, insightful, tenacious, ethical, exasperating, and real. I'll keep reading Ms Andrews' books as long as Em Hansen leads the way.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: The reader from Lawrence, Kansas, should have been Sarah Andrew' editor both in Fault Line and Killer Dust. (Both plot lines are weak, and the collaboration of a more skillful editor would have been very helpful.) However, I enjoyed both books very much because I love the solid science and geology that enjoyably informs a nonscientist like myself, Ms Andrews' brilliant descriptions of the physical world, and her uncanny ability to remind me that thoughtful, caring, and intelligent human beings are forced to make difficult, sometimes dangerous, moral choices in a chaotic and ever changing world. In Killer Dust I was delighted by the fact that Ms Andrews' dared to be political! I found myself cheering when she took some well-deserved shots at the foolish and self-serving ways of America's leaders, both scientific and political. Finely, Em is Em-tough, impetuous, emotional, foolish, intelligent, loving, loyal, crazy, stubborn, insightful, tenacious, ethical, exasperating, and real. I'll keep reading Ms Andrews' books as long as Em Hansen leads the way.
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