Track of the Scorpion

Rating:
Summary: Planes, Indians and Heat
Review: ...

Track of The scorpion Val Davis
(pg 307 mystery New Mexico)

If you like Nevada Barr, archeology or forensic this book is a must read. Nick is a recent college graduate
working on her tenure for a professor's job. Her father is a famous archeologist looking for the lost Anazi
empire in the hot dry desert of New Mexico. Nick's job is to catalog the artifacts as they are unearthed and
ready them for shipment. She does this job as a dutiful daughter and to fulfill her obligations for tenure.
Her real love is aircraft especially from W.W.II and when an old codger claims he found a buried plane in
the sand she is skeptical but excited. Upon arriving at the site she discovers it is in fact a W.W.II plane but
the mystery of its crash is one the government wants kept secret. This could of been just another novel
about government corruption and cover up but Davis gives us delightful characters that we can root for and
a plot with substance. Even Nick is not the normal dumb female bimbo we see in so many novels. She
actually asks for assistance and listens to others for advice. She doesn't run around helter skelter but comes
up with a plan to figure out the identity of the plane. There are many in positions of power who want her to
keep her mouth shut and close friends along the way are hurt when she continues the pursuit of identity of
the occupants of the plane. As we reach the dramatic ending, Nick keeps her wits about herself, delivers
justice and lives to tell another tale of the West. Rating 8

Rating:
Summary: Davis doesn't do homework on NM or archaeology
Review: I listened to the audio version of this book on a trip from Vail to Farmington. It was a good way to keep awake if only because I spent the time marveling at the major flaws in the authors setting. As a resident of the 4 corners, not far from Chaco Canyon and other cliff dwellings I can state for a fact that the temp rarely reaches 100 (let alone exceed it!). The area is not sand and desolation either. This story might have been more plausible if set on the white sands missile range much farther south.

Rating:
Summary: I can write better than this
Review: The story line is incredibly weak. Bouncing back and forth from goofy to just plain dumb, I couldn't even finish the entire thing. The audiobook is worse. They used a male and female reader, which had great potential, but they recorded them separately and did a poor job splicing them together. Don't read this at mealtime; you'll end up with indigestion.