Susan Cummins Miller

Quarry was my introduction to the Frankie MacFarlane series. This book falls into what I would call the "magnets for mayhem" variety in that some random person is forever falling into the center of all kinds of mysterious crimes and then said random person solves them. In other words, they are always a stretch when it comes to credibility (fiction, yes, kind of dumb, no). I prefer there be a reason someone – like a detective – is out solving mysterious crimes rather than a random character who stumbles into events and then happens to solve whatever there is to solve through happenstance.

The good is the geology and science bits; all new to me and quite interesting. I spent a bit of time working in the field in that area of the Mojave Desert so it was kind of fun to revisit and the rendering is accurate. On the other side, none of the characters made much of an impact on me. The bad guy was a nice composite; well put together in how he operated and flew under the radar; kudos for that.… (mais)

I heartily approve of a mystery that incorporates geological dissertation research. I had some trouble with the large cast of characters; some characters that seemed to be minor for most of the story became critical later on. This caused me to search back through the book, trying to remember who each person was. There were multiple mysteries to solve. I think I will want to check out the second book in the series; there's a high likelihood that Frankie MacFarlane's character will get better and better.… (mais)

Graduate student Francisca “Frankie” McFarlane is in the final stages of her geological research project in the mountains near Pair-a-Dice, Nevada. Since Frankie spends her days alone in the mountains, news of a serial killer working his or her way along I-80 toward Nevada has her on the alert, although she is so far off the interstate that she can't imagine she would be in any danger. However, a mysterious stranger shows unusual interest in Frankie's activities. Is he someone Frankie can trust? Or could he have something to do with the murders?

This book has more strengths than weaknesses. The book's main weakness is too many plot threads. The author knitted a pair of socks when she should have been knitting a scarf. On the positive side, I learned a lot from Frankie's geological research, even if some of the technical terminology was over my head. I was also impressed with the quality of the writing. This book proves it's possible for writing to be grammatically correct without sounding stilted. I've read enough poorly written and/or edited books that I really appreciate it when I come across a book that's been carefully edited.… (mais)

It was a fine book, a little too cluttered here and there, and then on occasion it was not slow enough to understand where all the strands were connecting. It was well thought out and planned, that's for sure, but sometimes it seemed like some of the more important pieces, the connecting pieces, like the 'B' puzzle piece in an ABC puzzle, were missing.

That said, I liked the characters that I was supposed to like, and the 'bad' characters were three dimensional and just as fleshed out as the protagonist.

The geologist stuff was both interesting as well as sort of taking up space in an incomprehensible way. What I mean is, hey, I'm not stupid at all, but, some of the stuff was insanely over my head, and though I got enough of it to get where it fit in the book I didn't get it all. Still, the geology stuff fit nicely into the flow of the story and for those who came anywhere near understanding the complex parts, I'm sure it added yet another layer to the story. Solid three stars, leaning towards four.… (mais)