"terrific "skeleton detective" case"

The three friends (forensics anthropologist Gideon Oliver, travel agent Phil Boyajian and FBI agent John Lau) are on vacation traveling on the ship Adelita complements of Amazonia Cruise Lines. Also on board the ship are a bunch of research botanists studying life on the Amazon. Whereas Phil considers the trip's potential for his customers, Gideon enjoys the habitat and John "analyzes" the other passengers. However, Gideon and Phil also quickly realizes how tense an isolated trio is as famous ethnobotanist Arden Scofield seems to be arguing vehemently with his companions.

The fascinating vacation abruptly ends when another traveler kills a botanist before diving into the river. Soon afterward a skeleton floats by as piranhas had quite a recent feast. Gideon and John know that there is more to these deaths than meets the eye, but neither they or Phil realize how much danger they are in although they are aware that drug smugglers use these isolated waters and nearby, in concealment, are the deadly Chayacuro headhunters. However, the real danger comes from a feud decades old in which neither side allows witnesses to survive the human predators that stalk the jungle.

The atmosphere grips the audience as the trip on the Amazon deeper into the jungle is filled with foreboding and thick suspense (kind of mindful of the Amazon Queen). Thus the reader knows from the moment that this is no longer Iowa that this will not be a pleasant journey for anyone on board. Fans of deep suspense thrillers will want to trek along with Professor Gideon as the "skeleton detective" has his toughest case, not becoming fish bait.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted May 29, 2007

Summary

A new mystery to chill the bones—from the EdgarŽ Award-winning author of Unnatural Selection.

When forensics professor Gideon Oliver joins an Amazon riverboat expedition with a group of research botanists, he expects a nice vacation. What he gets is heat, corrupt officials, dangerous insects and animals—and worse.

As they travel upriver, one of the botanists is killed by a deranged passenger who leaps overboard and flees into the darkness. No one can explain why. Theories begin to simmer, and stories of long-past, half-forgotten grudges—and new ones as well—boil to the surface.

Only when a fresh skeleton turns up in the river, scoured to the bone by voracious piranhas, does Gideon realize that in this jungle full of predators, humans may be the deadliest of all.