This book did not go how I was expecting it to go. I had told others that Preston & Child thrillers had a reputation for getting a bit extravagant in their development and resolutions, but apparently I hadn't really believed it.

Which made this one more entertaining for me, I think. I spent about ⅔ of Diablo Mesa expecting it to be much like the atomic mystery of The Scorpion's Tail, and wondering just how the clues uncovered would be explained as having given a misleading impression. But, no, it went way out there. More-so than if Old Bones had featured the cannibal cults and ghosts that I had initially been expecting.

Having been lulled into a false sense of security after the first two books in the series featured more ordinary treasure hunts and conspiracies, I am curious to see how the next couple will follow on from this one. Do we return to normalcy, or will it become (somehow) still more extravagant?

The writing is fast and functional, but I am entertained and mostly getting what I want out of these.

P.S. Corrie Swanson's prospective romance did make a reappearance here, but it seems we are taking a slow path on whether that goes anywhere. Nora Kelly, however, moves much faster. I was not expecting that one.