Recently however, there have been a series of crimes committed by a killer the media has dubbed the Sun City killer after the place where the first murder occurred. Grove has not been able to get a handle on the perpetrator and many, including his boss, Tom Geisel, have felt he has lost his special insight.

In an effort to shake him out of his lethargy, Geisel sends Grove to Alaska to meet with a journalist from Discover magazine who has an interesting theory on a totally unrelated matter. The journalist, Maura County, has been following an archeological find of some significance. Some hikers uncovered the body of a man presumably 6000 years old which had been preserved in a glacier. What is most interesting to Maura is that the condition of the body suggests this man had been murdered. She wants Grove to confirm the fact the man had been murdered and profile his killer.

Grove is reluctant to get involved in such a strange case with little hope of resolution. He also correctly interprets Maura’s interest in the find as her ticket to becoming a famous journalist if she can report the case in her magazine. He is predictably predisposed to treat Maura with some degree of distance if not actual distain. However, he feels an odd attraction to the young woman. As he examines the body of the long deceased man, he recognizes certain similarities in the way the crime was committed to that of the Sun City killer. Could this death be related to those of the much more recent murders, and, if so, how?

Although the major premise of the plot has the potential to produce an acceptable thriller, the author does not successfully realize this goal. It does require a vivid imagination and some willing suspension of disbelief on the part of the reader for the plot to work at all. There are elements of science fiction that play an important part in the story. For instance, Grove has out of body experiences as does the perpetrator of the Sun City crimes. Some readers might accept these occurrences in the interest of a good story but the plot becomes considerably more complex which necessitates reliance on significantly more supernatural phenomena to resolve problems.

The author extends the tension producing scenes far beyond the audience’s ability to be caught up in the action. A much shorter chase sequence would have been infinitely more effective. At one point Ulysses is chasing the perpetrator, who, by the way is an old man, over a consider length of time. Is it not likely that the older man will tire, and Ulysses will overtake him? It doesn’t happen. In another chase scene, Ulysses has reason to believe the perpetrator has Maura held hostage and yet he shoots without having the man in full view. Why would Ulysses risk Maura’s life by acting so carelessly?

To his credit the author does relate some interesting tidbits of information about archeology and society in the Copper Age some 6000 years ago. He also discusses the qualities that make a good criminal profiler, though I am not sure supernatural visions are reliable indicators for law enforcement officials to depend on.

Typical of most thrillers, this book is not heavy on character development. The plot and the action receive the major thrust of Bonansinga’s efforts. We are treated to an adequate description of Ulysses’ background and personality but all the other characters are not developed in detail. That is unfortunate with respect to Maura, and Ulysses’ boss, Tom, who do play important roles in the story. We could have benefited by learning more about these two people whose connections with the main character have a large impact on the story. The author does give the thriller category an interesting twist with this effort, but it is not one of the best examples of the type.

--Andy Plonka