My gripes: I was hoping for a bit more forensic geology, since that is the unique draw to this series, the forensic geologist sleuth. The story in this novel revolves around a thesis that likens terrorism to stalking, which I didn't find convincing enough, though the author does draw out some similarities between these types of violence. The conversations within this novel that are about ideas, scientific or political, come across more as the sort of banter one might hear in graduate student offices, even when the characters involved are decidedly not academics. And, for all the Em, the heroine, is supposed to be starting her Master's degree in geology, she has some alarming gaps in her knowledge, which allow the author to instruct the reader on various science terms and concepts, but which make me wonder how many undergraduate courses Em needs to take still before she is actually ready to start taking graduate courses.
And, I really disliked how willing Em is to be patronized and protected by her boyfriend and his friend. Em has only been dating Jack for 6 months or so, yet she seems to think because she's slept with Jack once in all that time, she should know him very, very well, which is silly. If she seemed like that sort of person, it wouldn't be quite so annoying, but as she comes across in this book, Em's character seems too inconsistent. And, for a 40 year old woman in modern times, since when is sleeping with her boyfriend once such a big deal. She is not, after all, fundamentalist Christian. She's old enough to have had more experience with relationships than she seems to be drawing on.

What I liked: The novelty of having a semi-professional scientist as a sleuth was part of what drew me to this book at the library, along with my curiosity about forensic geology. (I checked this book out because it was on the first shelf of the A's at my library, and I am reading the A's, but it still looked interesting.)I liked that the female characters in this book have strong roles, and I liked the bits where the author shows some of the subtle ways that women face discrimination in academia and in agencies like NASA. It was also creative the way the story links domestic stalking with domestic terrorism, though the part about Jack and his buddies sneaking around foiling terrorists without any sort of intelligence agency or military support/knowledge seemed a bit odd. ( )

Killer Dust
Hardcover edition 2003, St. Martin's Minotaur, New York
Mass market paperback edition 2004, St. Martin's Dead Letter, New York

Book Description
Forensic geologist Em Hansen has barely survived a series of life-altering events that have forced her to get to know herself all over again. Her longtime boyfriend is now a few months in her past, the future she had laid out for herself has evaporated into thin air, and her new man, Jack Sampler, has run away.

Well, not run away exactly, but has set off on a secret operation, possibly related to his job as an FBI agent, without telling Em where he is going or when he'll be back.

It soon becomes clear that he's in Florida, perhaps as part of an investigation the FBI has been running on a cloud of dust moving into the atmosphere, ostensibly borne on winds from Africa, and the implications it has for global politics.

But Em suspects something more sinister may be at work. Will Jack ever forgive her for following him to the southeast and butting in on his case? That is if they get out of this situation with their relationship, not to mention their bodies, intact.

With its suspenseful story that begins in a cloud of dust and leads all the way to NASA, Killer Dust is another top-notch mystery full of the impeccably researched popular science and the complex, engaging characters Sarah Andrews's many fans have come to expect from her award-winning series.

Publishers Weekly
"For Em Hansen's eighth outing, Andrews takes on national security in a complicated plot about airborne anthrax and the possible devastation it could wreak on the planet. Em's knowledge of Earth's minutiae propels her from her Wyoming home to the humid wetlands of Florida, where her new lover, FBI agent Jack Sampler (introduced in 2002's Fault Line), has disappeared.

As always, Andrews surrounds Em with a cast of unusual supporting characters; yet Hansen is still her gem-unpolished, naive and, worst of all for a Florida trip, hydrophobic.

Ably combining science and suspense, Andrews once again entertains and educates, making the driest dust theory intriguing and portraying Florida's landscape in a new geophysical light".

(Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.)

The New York Times Book Review
" [Em Hansen is] a clear-thinking, straight-talking heroine whose unabashed naïveté is endearing".

—Marilyn Stasio

Harriet Klausner
"Sarah Andrews keeps getting better with every book she writes".