EARTHQUAKE GAMES

While out for an early morning walk, retired schoolteacher Marcia Fowler finds the murdered body of young Krista Lewis half-buried in the Great Sand Dunes of southwestern Colorado, and concludes that aliens are responsible. Marcia, a member of MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), knows all about aliens—notably their special way of mutilating corpses. It’s true that up to now only cattle have been mutilated in this special way, but why wouldn’t alien activity escalate? Homicide detective Eileen Reed of the Colorado Springs PD suspects aliens might be getting a bad rap here. In her view a likelier suspect is Jacob Mitchell, ex-congressman and certified megalomaniac. Mitchell is convinced he can achieve his lifelong dream of becoming leader of the free world by engineering an earthquake through use of a mysterious machine to which he has access. While the quake distracts everybody, he plans to seize control of everything. Clearly, Eileen has her work cut out for her. She has to connect manic Mitchell to shadowy Krista, solving several murders and saving the world as we know it. In addition, she has to settle things with boyfriend Joe and come to terms with the sudden appearance of a long-lost father, who, it turns out, just might have murdered Krista. But Eileen, as determined as she is brilliant—though she does giggle a lot—is equal to the task.

Much ado about conspiracies, UFO’s, and a really gooey love affair. After a promising debut (Ground Zero, 1999), Ramthun comes a cropper.