Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This is a disappointing book, long on potential but short on the reality of Cochise County where it is supposedly set and absent on the black arts of rogue government agents.
The basic plot is feasible; some years ago the commander of the Arizona National Guard referred to the black arts of federal agencies with the comment, "I don't know what goes on there, I'm not about to ask, and I don't want to know." The story is set in the vicinity of Fort Huachuca, a major base for army intelligence which produced some interrogators who went to Abu Ghraib and other US prisons in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, Arizona is littered with abandoned military facilities and open land. Most of the northwest quarter of the state is empty and roadless; setting this story in a land of urban ranchettes is hardly credible.
Setting aside her depiction of Nicolette Scott as an archaeologist, the first jarring element is her description of a single-engine Cessna crashing into a canyon wall and ending up on the floor of the canyon. Supposedly, the fuselage was intact enough to walk up to the dead pilot to check for signs of life. It makes me wonder if Davis has ever seen a real aircraft crash, or even read about one.
Another oddity is the focus on rebuilding a World War II B-24 Liberator, which takes place almost overnight. I'm somewhat familiar with reconstruction of WW II aircraft as done by the Commemorative Air Force (former Confederate Air Force, based in Arizona). It takes months to accomplish the work she describes.
These flaws, based on my ignorance from personal experience or her unfamiliarity based on limited or flawed research, create jarring anomalies in an otherwise interesting, plausible and feasible story. Let's put it this way: if you don't know much about archaeologists, the military, aircraft or the Sonoran desert -- it could be interesting.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Flight of the Serpent
Nick Scott is back in the desert, this time leading a university-funded dig of her own in a ghost town near Boot Hill in Arizona. Walking into a canyon in search of cave-dwelling ruins left by ancient Anasazi, Nick hears the unmistakable sound of helicopters right before stumbling across the downed wreckage of what was once the plane of reporter Matt Gault. Joining forces with John Gault, Matt's grandfather, Nick quickly finds herself taken from the world of academic archeology into a world of government subterfuge and murder. Swept up in the mystery, and determined to uncover the truth, Nick and Gault call together the crew of a WW II B-24 Liberator for one last mission under the blazing skies of the Arizona sun.
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