Cyndi J. (cyndij) reviewed on 8/2/2008 + 1032 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

This is the sixth entry in this series about archaeologist Emma Fielding. I bet it's been three years since I read the last one, so I didn't remember many of the plots from before. Cameron gives enough back story so you don't feel too lost, but unfortunately not quite enough to really understand the motives of the bad guy in this story.
In this outing, Emma is very uneasy because of a series of increasingly malicious pranks. She's sure this is the work of a former colleague, presumed dead after some dramatic events in previous books, who is out to get her for exposing his criminal actions. Much is made of Emma's growing paranoia and her sense that others think she's simply being silly, but the pranks escalate quickly enough that this tension can't be maintained for long. Cameron spends quite a lot of time in this book having Emma describe her fighting classes (Krav Maga), which was a little dull to me.
I am not sure that if I'd started with this one I would search out the rest. There is very little archaeology going on, which is what attracted me to the series at first. Emma is upset that no one believes her theory of events, but after a wild car chase in which she barely escapes, she then objects to her husband putting up security cameras around their house. It didn't feel rational to me, and I didn't get the sense that Emma is supposed to be irrational even under all the stress. We do get some payoff at the end for all the time spent on the fighting lessons. And I wondered how it was that a tenured university professor could skip so many classes or figure in so many odd events without attracting attention from the university president (or dean, whatever you call âem).
Still it's very readable, nicely paced with a lot of tension and a clear denouement, just not one of her best. I liked how we never really see the bad guy until the very end. I don't see a seventh in the series listed anywhere, but if and when one is published, I'll read it. Someone who hasn't read Cameron before should start with Site Unseen, the first in the series.

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