— USA TODAY BESTSELLER –THERE ARE PLENTY OF WAYS TO DIE in the Grand Canyon.Forensic geologists Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws investigate one way: trouble on the canyon’s Colorado River. Stranded raft. Life vests unused. Rafters missing.The only clue to the fate of the rafters is a bag of pebbles caught in the bowline. Following that clue, the geologists uncover a hellish scheme. Not only … bowline. Following that clue, the geologists uncover a hellish scheme. Not only are the rafters in peril, but the river itself is under attack.
The race to stop it takes Cassie and Walter deep into the canyon, and onto the mighty river, putting their own survival at stake.
— All books in the series are standalone novels and can be enjoyed in any order.
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Interesting take using geology to help solve a crime.
Toni Dwiggins is one of my favorite authors. I look forward to the forensic geologists literally unearthing the clues and revealing the perpetrator in each book. The Grand Canyon is the star of this one. Rafters and hikers go missing often in this unforgiving place. You get the in-depth tour of what a hike or rafting the river would virtually feel like. Also how dedicated and thorough the rescuers and geologists take this almost sacred place. If you liked the tv series “Bones” for the forensics, you’d like this.
I’m attracted to Toni Dwiggins writing. This the 3rd I’ve read. Having grown up near the locations of the stories, I am able to visualize the story as I read it. The story is different from any other books I’ve read and I find the change refreshing.
Original and a bit educational mystery
I really liked it because I rafted the Colorado River on an 8 day trip in the 1970s and it was fun to read about some familiar places.
Couldn’t finish.
Very interesting with lots of great information about the Grand Canyon and Colorado River. This author always provides interesting facts about the areas she writes about, and the action is always great.
My first book from this author. It won’t be the last.
Reading it now. Fascinating details about Grand Canyon
This novel was interesting and exciting. I don’t usually care for mystery book , but this one keep me entertained too the finish.
This book was interesting and entertaining, especially considering the inexpensive price.
A good story, but too much technical info.
As an avid river runne who has been down the Grand Canyon 6 times, I appreciated the accurate descriptions of the canyon rock layers, the thrill of the white water rapids, and the very serious environmental threats to the river Island twelfths. “Too many straws in the river” – an very true statement. The tedious descriptions of the rock layers themselves was a bit overdone, but the overall message should be heeded by all.
Keeps you guessing.
A çomplete waste of time
A forensic geology series, very original. The author tries to solve murder mysteries with geology—I was prepared to be highly entertained. However, not being a geologist, I found myself struggling at times. The main character had wow moments that I am afraid lost me and left me underwhelmed and a little frustrated. There was plenty of excitement, but despite this, even the conclusion seemed unclear and left me underwhelmed.
disappointing, weak plot
Enjoyable read!
Cassie Oldfield and Walter Shaws, the forensic geologists we met in “Badwater,” “Quicksilver,” and “Volcano Watch,” and again in “Skeleton Sea” are back again with a mystery set in the awe-inspiring canyon walls that tower above the Colorado River.
There are many ways to die on the river, as this novel states from the outset. Our geologists, in the area to supply their expertise for a documentary film about the Colorado, are tapped to help solve the puzzle when a fishing party of four is lost from a raft found adrift on the river. Grand Canyon Park rangers hope they can narrow the search area based on a baggie of rock chips left on the raft, so they can recover the lost rafters alive.
The mystery deepens when the raft party leader, Reid Lassen, is found alive. He was the only one of the four in his party wearing a PFD (personal flotation device). Reid’s an old geologist friend of Walter Shaws, but Walter had been told he was dead, decades before. Reid can’t help with the search for the other rafters, because he’s got amnesia. So Cassie and Walter go back to searching for rock sources, including one for a new specimen found in the cargo pocket of one of the other rafters who didn’t survive.
Every new specimen serves only to widen the search area. And time is running out for survivors who have yet to be found.
The action of the novel switches breath-takingly from geology to techniques of river rafting and suspicions of eco-terror. It’s exactly like a raft trip through Class Ten rapids on the Colorado: terrifying, engrossing, thrilling, and exciting at turns (and sometimes all four simultaneously.)
As with the other novels in the series, “River Run” succeeds in making the science accessible and integrating the experience of field geology with the needs of ordinary people. In this story, these are all the water-using groups along the river’s run: park rangers, rafters and canyon hikers, ranchers and farmers, communities and resorts.
Read it as a mystery; read it as a thriller; read it as science/fiction in the best sense of that term—but read it!