32. Dead Time - Stephen White

Alan Gregory #16
audio read by Dick Hill
11 unabridged cds...13 hrs....on the road from Tucson to PA
2008, Dutton Adult
397 pgs.
Contemporary Mystery
Finished 5/31/16
Goodreads rating: 3.82 (1503 ratings)
My rating:  4
Setting: Grand Canyon bottom and Colorado

First line/s:  "She disappeared into a crack in the earth."

My comments:  This was my first foray into this series, and I was told that I'd be okay if I didn't start with the first.  I liked it.  It was written from three points-of-view... Alan Gregory (a psychologist and the protagonist of the series); his ex-wife, Merideth; and a third person voice that describes a happening at the Grand Canyon's Phantom Ranch a few years previously that becomes the crux of the story.  Each of the numerous characters have backstories and difficulties they're coping with along with the current mystery, and I love the way it was all woven together.  I liked some of the characters, rolled my eyes at others, and laughed at and with some of them.  Great characterization and consuming storyline.  So why not a five?  A little too much conversation and rehashing - the book could have edited out some of the redundancy and extra long-winded-ness.  It was fine for a long cross-country drive, however.

Goodreads synopsis:  After the shocking developments in Dry Ice, Colorado psychologist Alan Gregory is struggling to deal with his newly adopted son and repair his shaky, though generally improving, marriage. But then Alan’s ex-wife, Merideth, reappears, seeking help she feels only Alan can give. Suddenly Alan is pulled into a mystery that reaches back years to a camping trip at the Grand Canyon involving Merideth’s fiancé and five friends whose lives were changed forever when a young woman mysteriously vanished from the Canyon floor. 
          Enlisting the help of friend and detective Sam Purdy, Alan finds himself pitted against new demons and unseen enemies as he tries to uncover the connection between the unexplained disappearance at the Grand Canyon and Merideth’s missing surrogate. The clock is ticking, and as Alan’s and Sam’s investigations take them from New York City to Los Angeles to the cavernous reaches of the Canyon itself, Alan unearths a series of secrets and deceptions that someone wishes to keep buried at all costs.