4. Tularosa - Michael McGarrity

For: Adults
Published: 1996
1st in a series
304 pgs.
Rating: 4/5
Finished: Jan. 8, 2009

I don't know why I didn't say this book was a 5 - I really enjoyed the plot and setting, I couldn't wait to read more, it didn't leave any questions or holes, and I totally look forward to the next installment. It was that good. But I can't quite do it...
I think part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was that I traveled through New Mexico during Thanksgiving break, and could visualize the setting very well. I can also take a weekend trip to check out some of the places - I've always wanted to go to White Sands National Monument, which is where half the story takes place.

Kevin Kerney used to be a cop - a good one, a smart one, but was almost killed, and his injuries were major and long lasting. He retired as chief of detectives of the Santa Fe police department and became somewhat of a hermit, taking care of a ranch out in the boonies surrounding Santa Fe. When his ex-partner and ex-friend comes to him and asks him to find his missing son, he does - the young man is his godson. Sammy Yazzi is in the army, stationed and working at the White Sands area, and has been missing for six weeks. The story unfolds, clue by clue. Kerney has made many law enforcemenet contacts through the years, which comes in handy. He ends up spending time on the army post, working with Captain Sara Brannon, smart, clever - and still in the picture at the end of the book. The story includes army artifacts from the 19th century, stolen and hidden by Apaches, and trips in and out of Juarez, Mexico through El Paso (I was in El Paso this summer, so I can picture this, too!)

Lots of descriptions of the high desert. A really good read.