Beautiful Sacrifice

March 12, 2012
Houston-based archeologist Lina Taylor and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Hunter Johnson join forces to locate four ancient Mayan artifacts that turned up during a drug bust and then vanished. Clues point variously to grave robbers trying to sell the valuable pieces on the black market, narco lords using them in ritual killings, the revival of an ancient cult, and Lina’s own shady aristocratic family in Mexico. As Lina and Hunter dodge bullets and trade wisecracks across the Southwest, Lowell (Death Echo) deftly incorporates creepy basement corpse discoveries, sleazy antiquities dealers, crumbling jungle tombs, charmingly sinister relatives, fascinating archeological elements, and a well-realized, completely invented Mayan god. Less deftly handled is the attraction between Lina and Hunter; their turgid ruminations often read like an awkward second skin stretched tightly over the primary story. But these moments are scarce as Lowell quickly and smartly returns to the breakneck pace of her intriguing narrative. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency.

April 15, 2012
Lowell (Death Echo, 2010) explores ancient Mayan prophecy and one cult's interpretation of the end of the Mayan calendar in a suspenseful tale that contains nearly as much art and history as romance. Hunter Thompson gets a panicky call from his friend Jase, a former coworker at the Border Patrol in Texas, who tells him that some Mayan artifacts are missing from evidence and Jase is being blamed. If he can't find them, he will lose his job. Hunter agrees to help his friend and calls on Dr. Lina Taylor, an expert at Houston's Museum of the Maya, to identify the photos Jase gave him and, hopefully, give him some idea of who might have stolen the artifacts. Lina is shocked to see such a trove of heretofore undiscovered art, which could only have come from her family's estate in the Yucatan. As she helps Hunter unravel the facts about the theft of artifacts, they run up against a deadly god cult preparing for the December 2012 Mayan doomsday and the culture's rebirth.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)