|
|
Click on the book image to buy your copy at amazon.com.
|
An Eye for Gold
Hardback edition 2000, St. Martin's Minotaur, New York
Mass market paperback edition 2001, St. Martin's Dead Letter, New York
 Book
Description
Temporarily unemployed and conflicted over a rocky relationship, forensic
geologist Em Hansen accepts an assignment aiding the FBI in a fraud investigation
of a billion-dollar Nevada gold mine.
There are no guarantees on the frontier, and Em ends up smack in the
middle of a minefield of intrigue where dead bodies, burning range fires,
endangered rodents, and goldbricking employees are the order of the day.
Her detecting skills are soon put to the test when the company's "golden
goose" geologist goes missing, and she discovers that what glitters
at the Granville mine is of a hue more green than gold.
In order to get to the bottom of this complicated case, Em must throw
caution to the wind and leap head first into the gaping portal where darkness
rules-and the only sound is the terrified pounding of her own heart...
Jane Adams, amazon.com
"Forensic geologist Emily Hansen has come to Salt Lake City to
see her lover and perhaps to marry him. But before she makes the decision,
she is manipulated by FBI agent Tom Latimer into investigating a possibly
fraudulent gold-mining operation on federal land. Another geologist is
missing, and a scientist charged with assessing the environmental impact
of proposed new drilling operations is dead in what appears to Em to be
murder rather than an accident.
Author Sarah Andrews's strength is her feeling for the arid landscape
of Utah and Nevada. She is somewhat shakier in describing her heroine's
conflicted emotions about her problematic romantic attachment and the
strong sense of autonomy that leads her to take Latimer's bait and get
involved in the case.
The physical landscape is brilliantly evoked, while the territory of
the heart has more subtle boundaries that draw the reader in to a rather
convoluted plot.
This is the sixth outing for Em, and Andrews's fans will follow her anywhere,
even through the detailed and somewhat tedious scientific and geological
explanations about mining and a barely more compelling explication of
gold's timeless allure. The minor characters are more interesting than
many of the central figures: a Paiute shaman, a wealthy woman who pilots
her own plane, and the upright Mormon policeman whose proposal provokes
Em's exploration into her own inner world. Readers can expect to find
out more about him in Em's next outing".
Publishers Weekly
"Following on the heels of the successful Bone Hunter
(1999), this new mystery featuring forensic geologist Em Hansen is a disappointment,
with too little plot and too much discourse on hard-rock mining.
A scattershot beginning introduces an overabundance of characters. Then,
instead of getting to the meat of the story, the author focuses on Hansen
hemming and hawing about whether she should help FBI agent Tom Latimer
on a case concerning Granville Resources, a gold-mining company, or hang
out with her handsome Mormon boyfriend, Ray. This dithering seems pretty
coy once she's fully involved in Tom's investigation.
Hansen spends an awful lot of time crisscrossing deserts in planes and
in her truck, looking into potential irregularities about permits, claims
and other dealings between the suspect Granville Resources and the federal
Bureau of Land Management. During most of this period, she's kept in the
dark about the nature of the case, as is the reader.
After 300 pages of random speculations and false starts, the plot finally
begins to heat up, but at this point it's too late. Much of the information
about the gold market, the history of mining and refining techniques is
fascinating, but taken all together, it's oppressive and overwhelms the
scrap of story line underneath.
In a closing author's note, Andrews discusses some of the moral issues
raised by mining and the depletion of our natural resources".
(Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.)
The Library Journal
"The FBI hires forensic geologist Em Hansen as a consultant for
its investigation of a questionable gold-mining operation on federal land
in Nevada. When someone offs the star witness, Em has her work cut out
for her. A change in scenery from Bone Hunter but just as interesting".
(Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Booklist
"Em Hansen is plucky and smart. Like most geologists, she bounces
from job to job, and now the FBI is trying to recruit her. She's deeply
in love with her boyfriend, Ray, a cop and a Mormon, but she finds living
with his mom in Salt Lake City isn't helping her figure out where she
fits in his world and in hers.
Em's emotional terrain is mapped over a tale of mining rights, environmental
issues, betrayals, and the murder of key witnesses. But who is behind
it? And what do they stand to gain, not just from the gold in the Nevada
hills?
Andrews' enthusiasm for geology and for flying occasionally bogs down
in exposition, but the mystery is complicated and absorbing, and the reader
does learn a great deal about geology (there's a wonderful explication
of plate tectonics using a peach).
There's also some excellent girl bonding as Em makes a friend of Faye,
a local pilot, among her other activities".
—GraceAnne A. DeCandido
(Copyright (c) American Library Association. All rights reserved.)
The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, CA
" Suspense every step of the way...twists and turns that [will]
keep you turning the pages".
To top
|
