When archeologist Nicolete "Nick" Scott uncovers an unusual artifact in her fifth adventure, she sets in motion an unbelievable chain of violence and devastation. Davis (Track of the Scorpion, etc.) has created a whopper of a plot that begins with Nick and her father, famed Anasazi archeologist Elliot Scott, along with fellow scientist Reed Austin, searching for Anasazi sites in Baptist Wash, Utah. Since Nick's field is "historical archaeology, the study of the near-past," she is more excited by the discovery of a 1937 Packard than she is by the older pay dirt she helps her father find. The car belonged to a notorious pair of Bonnie-and-Clyde-like bank robbers who hit Utah banks hard during their brief careers. When Nick begins to research the provenance of her find, all hell breaks loose. Buried with the bank robber's car were secrets someone still wants to protect—secrets that could tarnish or destroy presidential reputations and dash the hopes of a presidential aspirant. Nick, Elliot and Reed face unexpected pressures and each fights back, but it is the stubborn and determined Nick who leads the way. Davis captures some of the romance of archeology and makes excellent use of the topography, climate and history of Utah, but the clunky plot is never convincing. Worse, neither is the conclusion, which not only doesn't satisfy but also leaves too many threads of Davis's web blowing in the wind. (Oct. 14)
