Tag Archives: action thriller

Amy Caudill’s Reviews : Dead Mountain

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Dead Mountain by Douglas Preston

Dead Mountain (Nora Kelly, #4) by Douglas Preston (Goodreads Author), Lincoln Child

Amy Caudill‘s review

May 13, 2024

The fourth installment of The Nora Kelly Novels featuring secondary characters from the authors’ best known series, The Pendergast Novels, finds our intrepid heroines facing an investigation based on true-life adventures.  Nora Kelly, archeologist, and Corrie Swanson, junior FBI agent, find themselves examining some remains uncovered in a cave that may have ties to a fifteen year old unsolved case.

Fifteen years ago, a group of college students went missing in the Manzano Mountains, near an Air Force base, under mysterious circumstances.  Only some of the bodies were ever found, until now.  The evidence seems to indicate that the hikers went crazy, because some apparently left their shelter at night, in various states of dress, during a blizzard. 

Before the final curtain comes down, Nora and Corrie will deal with a military cover-up, a self- righteous victim’s group whose leader is a conspiracy nut, and the true villain of the so-called Manzano massacre, who has been hiding the truth all these years.

The two main characters have developed an uneasy friendship over the course of this series, based on joint adversity.  However, this volume shows Corrie growing the most as an individual and as an agent.  She has to adjust to a new mentor following the murder of her last in the previous book, and she’s finally taking a chance on love in the person of recurring character Sheriff Watts.  Overall, it’s nice to see the two women have lives outside of archeological digs, bureaucratic problems, and death-defying escapes from terror.

This book delivers on the promise that there’s going to be plenty of action, deep mysteries, and enough twists and turns to satisfy any discerning reader, as per usual with the names of Preston and Child on the cover.  I can’t wait to see where the next adventure takes the ladies, as well as the next installation of the main series, both due out this year.  I award this book five stars, and recommend it to readers of police procedurals, action thrillers, and fans of strong female characters.

Amy Caudill’s Reviews : Cold, Cold Bones

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Cold, Cold Bones by Kathy Reichs

Cold, Cold Bones (Temperance Brennan, #21) by Kathy Reichs (Goodreads Author)

Amy Caudill‘s review

Reading a Kathy Reichs book  is for me like visiting an old friend.  I have read most if not all of her prior novels, but I was pleasantly surprised when I started this one that it proved to be a trip down memory lane.

Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist,  is back in North Carolina for this one (for readers new to the series, she divides her time professionally between working for a coroner’s office in North Carolina and one in Quebec, Canada,) and is welcoming her grown daughter, Katy, home after a stint in the Army, when an eyeball appears on her back porch. Yes, an eyeball.  This first discovery leads Tempe down a path with more twists and turns than a mountain road.  

Only gradually does Tempe become aware, along with readers, that this case has similarities to a previous case from years past, and then there is another discovery, and another, and soon a pattern emerges that the anthropologist and readers alike will recognize as highlights from Reich’s prior novels.  Getting the often cranky but earnest Detective Slidell on board is a help to Tempe, but the copycat appears to have an inside source, one which proves elusive to both parties.

Worse still, Tempe’s daughter has disappeared.  Is she off somewhere dealing with PTSD, or is her silence a sign that she has somehow been drawn into these horrible events?  A final confrontation between Tempe and the culprit which was foreshadowed but only revealed at the eleventh hour showcases both the depraved depths one can reach for revenge, and the heroic efforts of the other for the safety of a child.

Prior readers of the series will enjoy the trip revisiting past novels, like a clip episode of a favorite TV show: while there is plenty of action, suspense, and drama to keep neophytes entertained.  I give this story five stars, as I rarely have enjoyed one of author Kathy Reich’s novels more.

Amy Caudill’s Reviews : Diablo Mesa

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Diablo Mesa by Douglas Preston

Diablo Mesa (Nora Kelly, #3) by  Douglas Preston (Goodreads Author), Lincoln Child

Amy Caudill‘s review

Authors Preston and Child have taken their characters to a lot of different places, but this latest edition to the Nora Kelly series enters previously unexplored territory, starting with an archeological dig that crosses paths with a possible alien conspiracy.

When Nora Kelly rejects an offer made to  the Santa Fe Institute to work with billionaire Lucas Tappan on an archeological survey of the Roswell site, she loses her job, only to get a better offer from Tappan to work for him privately.  Skeptical but intrigued by his “evidence” of something actually crashing in the area, she accepts, and almost immediately uncovers two murder victims buried in the sand.

Nora calls the only FBI agent she knows, Corrie Swanson, with whom she has shared a couple of adventures and thinks of as sort of a friend.  Corrie is assigned the case, which leads her down a rabbit’s hole of conspiracies and more deaths, including that of her mentor.  And for some reason, she can’t quite trust the new mentor from Washington who is assigned as her temporary supervisor.

With a plot that involves an alien probe, a secret quasi-government cult, and an action-packed assault through a hidden underground bunker; this story has plenty of action; as well as a possible romance for Nora Kelly, whose husband Bill Smithback died  due to involvement in one of Agent Pendergast’ cases (see the authors’ largest and best-known series.)

This story features the adventures of Nora Kelly and Corrie Swanson, two alums from Pendergast novels and standalones from authors Preston and Child.  The two women are radically different in age, in outlook, and education, but through this series are drawn together through both shared experiences and their connection to one Agent Aloysius Pendergast.  The earliest book, Old Bones, has them at conflict, and as unwilling allies, but I sense by this third volume at least a thawing of emotions.  They agree to stay on a first name basis, despite coming together for official business.  If they will actually become friends remains to be seen, but I’m sure the authors have some interesting things planned for them in subsequent stories.

I’ll admit I was skeptical about some of the territory this novel  ventured into, but the authors have a talent for making the fantastic seem plausible, and I was deeply satisfied with the conclusion, as multiple antagonists (including Nora’s former bosses) received their just desserts.  I award this book five stars, and look forward to the next installment, Dead Mountain, due out in August.