The Summoning God is more than a superb murder mystery, it is a psych- ological thriller with blockbuster action, romance and suspense, and best of all a dynamic plot that will have you holding your breath waiting for the nest step down the dark labyrinth of their serial murderers mind. When world-renowned Canadian Physical Anthropologist, Dr. Maureen Cole, is called to the United States to analyze burials found in an ancient subterranean ceremonial chamber, she is stunned to discover the burned bodies of thirty-three children and two adults. The children were burned in the flesh, meaning they were alive when the fire started, but was the fire an accident or deliberately set? The scattered, mutilated remains of the adults give Maureen her first clue. In order to solve the mystery she must work with American archaeologist William Dusty Stewart. Theyve worked on two archaeological projects in the past and get along like a mongoose and a cobra. Now they must work together to discover the dark and terrible secret of an ancient people. The Gears seamlessly weave together modern archaeology and ancient history. Like all of their books, The Summoning God is based on real archaeological sitessites that tell a terrifying story of North America eight hundred years ago. Breathtaking descriptions evoke the harsh beauty of the desert, while the lucid, erudite historical perspectives are informed by the authors own extensive archeological experience. Book two in the Anasazi Mysteries series, The Summoning God is the sequel to The Visitant , in which archaeologist-authors Kathleen O'Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear introduced readers to murder, mayhem, and the myriad details of life in a 13th-century Native American pueblo. In both novels, the narrative arcs between the present and the past, drawing aside the seemingly thin veil of time that separates them. Here, as archaeologists Dusty Stewart and Maureen Cole sift through an ancient Anasazi kiva, attempting to understand the circumstances that could have led to the presence of 33 charred children's bodies in the ceremonial chamber, we also see the members of the pueblo as they move toward the terrible destruction so carefully unearthed by Stewart and Cole. This narrative device isn't revolutionary, but it is clever: the demands of classic mystery plotting (we have a corpse, but who committed the crime?) are fulfilled, while the reader lives simultaneously in the worlds of evidence creation and deduction. The Anasazi characters will be familiar to readers of The Visitant : warriors Browser and Catkin, holy men Springbank and Stone Ghost, and the witch Two Hearts continue to move silently through the sand and sagebrush, circling through a world marked by warring religions and vanishing resources. When Browser and Catkin find a mutilated old woman surrounded by the skulls of her clan, they must summon all their courage to combat what surely must be witchcraft--or is it? Although the narrative founders at times in a sea of murkily presented myth, the characters are vibrantly drawn (though to watch an Anasazi holy man conduct an autopsy in a manner that would do Kay Scarpetta proud is one of several discordant anachronisms). The Summoning God , like its predecessor, renders the lives and habits of the Anasazi in compelling detail: we learn that they used blazing star petals for perfume and that their ceremonial purification rites included cornmeal and ground seashells. Though the tenacity with which the authors seek to hammer home a situational equivalency between modern life and the 13th century is sometimes painfully heavy-handed, the evocation of daily life never is. Readers might wish to acknowledge that overutilization of resources, a thirst for territory, and a propensity toward holy wars are indeed threads that bind us to the Anasazi--then ignore the lectures and settle into the story. --Kelly Flynn Kathleen O'Neal Gear is a former state historian and archaeologist for Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska for the U.S. Department of the Interior. She has twice received the federal government's Special Achievement Award for "outstanding management" of our nation's cultural heritage. W. Michael Gear, who holds a master's degree in archaeology, has worked as a professional archaeologist since 1978. He is currently principal investigator for Wind River Archaeological Consultants. The Gears, whose First North American Series and Anasazi Mystery Series, are both international as well as USA Today bestsellers live in Thermopolis, Wyoming. THE SUMMONING GOD 1 Sun Cycle of the Great Horned Owl The Falling River Moon I WAKE WHEN A TWIG SNAPS, BUT I DO NOT MOVE. I lie still in the brush, barely breathing, listening to their whispers. Pine needles crackle. Clothing rustles. They each have their own way of walking, one a little faster, another very slow. The leader has wide shoulders that hiss against the brush. There are four of them. But the last in line, the female, is the mo