Robert Todd Petersen

This book was recommended to me and since I have roots in Southern Utah, I was very interested. I’m glad I read the book. There were so many interesting characters - a park ranger with boundless knowledge and fortitude (Paul), an archeologist (Sophia Shepard) working on her dissertation, a local sheriff (Dalton), two bumbling bad guys, a very competent assassin (Scissors) and a woman behind the scenes who is only interested in her plans. Plus the tourists, local townspeople, helpful women in Short Creek and an off the grid eccentric. At first I wondered why the German doctor (Reinhardt) was introduced. Little did I know he would later interact with the main characters and play a key role.

The complex topic of ownership of ancient ruins and artifacts is addressed from several viewpoints. As are the place of museums and national parks.

I enjoyed the description of the desert, the little towns and the people. The story line moved long and there was plenty of suspense and plot twists and action. Some of the side characters were comical or sweet and endearing. Well done!… (mer)

I find that this book pulled me in two directions. On one hand, I loved it because so many of the stories were from the point of view of people well outside of stereotypical white western American Mormon culture. (One story is about a black Zimbabwean man who has to travel into a Rwandan war zone to dedicate the grave of someone killed in genocidal violence.)

On the other hand, I like to read stories that have some sort of tangible plot to them, and many of the short stories in this volume felt like "scenes" or "moments" without any sort of larger structure.

I liked the final novella, I think largely because it had more of a plot, and I wish that all of the short stories had been of a similar length and development. (But would I prefer to silence the unique voices of the short stories if they could not be expanded into something larger? I'm not sure.)… (mer)