About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

DEAD WATER CREEK
by Alex Brett
Dundurn, May 2003
360 pages
$7.99
ISBN: 1550024523


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

The world of scientific academia is very cut-throat, brutal, and ruthless where many will do whatever it takes in order to survive. Tenure is an important element along with the number of articles published in academic and peer-reviewed journals, and the search for scientific breakthroughs. Some people are liable to fudge results in order to fulfil a predetermined outcome to get more grant money. Others just blatantly lie about their credential and usurp credit that they do not deserve and forget to cite references. Someone needs to investigate these sorts of indiscretions and this is where the novel begins.

Morgan O'Brien is a former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer now working as a research fraud investigator at the Canadian National Council for Research and Technology. She lands a case in which a junior professor is accusing a senior one of fraud. The files have been purposely hidden for six months and no one can come up with a reasonable explanation as to why.

O'Brien being gutsy and no-nonsense takes the file before there can be a cover-up and disappears to investigate the case incognito and see what is going on. Something strange is going on with the salmon population at the Frasier River and a group of scientists have been researching the facts without reaching any breakthroughs.

Once O'Brien starts snooping everything gets kicked up a notch, someone is murdered, and Morgan knows that there must be something serious going down. She will do whatever it takes, even if others don't want to. She is there to do a job and she means to do it right. If she has to bend the rules, so be it.

For the average layperson, the scientific study of salmon's olfactory nature can be considered extremely boring, however, Ms Brett overcomes that by introducing interesting characters that create an intense dynamic into the character of Morgan. Even though this is her first appearance in print, it will not be the last. The book features good writing, entertaining characters, intense action, and some well-placed humor. Everyone should definitely take a bite out of this one. You might be surprised.

Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, June 2004

This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]