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Book Summary InformationAuthor: Bonnie Ramthun Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published) Published: 2000-09-11 ISBN: 0399146660 Number of pages: 304 Publisher: Putnam Adult
Book Reviews of Earthquake GamesBook Review: Don't Bother Summary: 1 StarsI'm a fan of adventure fiction and mysteries, so I'd hoped Earthquake Games would nicely fit the bill. While the premise is interesting (human-made earthquakes), the execution of the story was sadly lacking. Ms. Ramthun seemed to be more interested in pushing her political and social values than in creating an interesting work of fiction. If you like simplistic plotting and characterization, mixed with pseudo-conservative political drivel, this is for you.
Summary of Earthquake GamesThe uniquely talented writer Bonnie Ramthun, a former war-gamer for the Department of Defense, once again flexes her doomsday imagination and insider's knowledge to brilliant effect in an exciting sequel to Ground Zero.
Major Jim Leetsdale appears to have committed suicide during a freak Colorado earthquake. But when Colorado Springs Homicide Detective Eileen Reed and her partner, Dave Rosen, go to investigate, they conclude that Leetsdale's death was a murder carefully orchestrated to appear to be a suicide. Jacob Mitchell, an ex-Senator with presidential ambitions, seems to be the key to the mystery, however his role in the murder is murky.
While distracted by a series of small earthquakes occurring in places not previously known to be located on fault lines, Eileen begins to unravel the connections between the suspicious suicide case and the earthquakes. Could it be that Mitchell is somehow behind the enigmatic earthquakes? A tension-fraught and emotional showdown in the Colorado Great Sand Dunes brings together all of the elements of Eileen's case: the power-hungry Mitchell, her friends from the CIA, plus a ghost from her past.
Filled with surprise and suspense, Earthquake Games is a thriller that manages to incorporate depth of character and emotion into its chilling plot. It takes a while before Eileen Reed, a homicide detective in Colorado Springs, makes the connection between an earthquake in a place where earthquakes don't usually happen and a series of other strange events. There's a suicide at a military base and the discovery of the mutilated corpse of a young woman scientist in the Colorado Great Sand Dunes, the locale of the infamous Taos Hum, which is believed by ufologists to be evidence of alien visitations. But once Reed and Dave Rosen, her partner, realize that the suicide was a murder and the victim was connected to a secret project overseen by an ex-senator who may be manipulating the climate to further his own megalomaniacal ambitions, Eileen begins putting the coincidences together. Eileen is carrying some heavy personal baggage. She's recently killed a criminal who, although he richly deserved it, is still causing her nightmares. She's deep into denial about a series of traumatic events in her childhood that make her unable to trust the man in her life or accept the fact that Alan Baxter, a retired professor who was on his way to meet the slain woman in the dunes, may be her long-lost father and may also be a murderer. When a friend in the CIA tracks down documents involving the construction of an earthquake machine hidden in dusty Pentagon files, and Eileen draws a line between the secret project and information her boyfriend decrypts from the computer of the murdered military man, she uncovers the outlines of a fiendish plot to cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people and pave the way for a political takeover of the U.S. In a thrilling, fast-paced conclusion, she manages to find and disable the device, and in so doing to save the nation as well as solve the mystery of her own origins. Author Bonnie Ramthun evokes the mysterious landscape of the desert Southwest with good descriptive touches and creates characters with interesting backgrounds and more emotional and intellectual texture than is usual in novels on the theme of criminal masterminds bent on world domination. There's even enough science to make the plot seem credible. Earthquake Games is a lively and suspenseful read with a heroine you'll want to meet again. --Jane Adams
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