jonetta's review
4.0
Adrien Fletcher has some downtime and is using it to help his former teammate track down a baby given away in a black market adoption thirty years ago. The first on his list is Miranda Lang, an associate professor of linguistic anthropology at Berkeley. She's beginning a book tour to promote her recent publication that debunks the theory that the world will end on the last date of the Maya calendar. While Adrien is trying to locate the identifying tattoo, someone is out to sabotage Miranda's book and hurt her in the process.
I have mixed feelings about this story, which had two mystery angles. The first was the search for the adopted child and it was the most interesting but had the least amount of page time. The second was identifying who was disrupting Miranda's book tour and why. The anthropological aspect was fascinating but the mystical shenanigans were a distraction. It's obvious that an extraordinary amount of research was conducted for the story but I wish the shaman stuff had less focus.
I liked Adrien and Miranda but didn't love them because their chemistry seemed forced. They just never grabbed me emotionally. The mysteries, however, were intriguing and compelling. Please know that while most of the mysteries were resolved here, part of the story arc continues into the next book. I enjoyed the story despite my issues and am looking forward to the next. 3.5 stars
I have mixed feelings about this story, which had two mystery angles. The first was the search for the adopted child and it was the most interesting but had the least amount of page time. The second was identifying who was disrupting Miranda's book tour and why. The anthropological aspect was fascinating but the mystical shenanigans were a distraction. It's obvious that an extraordinary amount of research was conducted for the story but I wish the shaman stuff had less focus.
I liked Adrien and Miranda but didn't love them because their chemistry seemed forced. They just never grabbed me emotionally. The mysteries, however, were intriguing and compelling. Please know that while most of the mysteries were resolved here, part of the story arc continues into the next book. I enjoyed the story despite my issues and am looking forward to the next. 3.5 stars
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