Earthquake Games [Paperback]

Bonnie Ramthun (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; Advance copy edition (2000)
• ASIN: B00125WWXU
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Bonnie Ramthun is a Colorado wife, mother, and mystery novelist. Her novels for adults include Ground Zero, a thriller published by G.P. Putnam, Earthquake Games, a 2000 Colorado Book of the Year nominee, and The Thirteenth Skull. The White Gates, her middle grade mystery published by Random House in 2008, is a Junior Library Guild Premiere selection and was a finalist for the Missouri Truman Award. She is a former chapter president of Mystery Writers of America, a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and former war gamer for the Department of Defense.

There are two cherished compliments that Bonnie Ramthun has received for her writing.

A reader wanted to know if the childhood events that happened to Eileen Reed in Earthquake Games had actually happened to Bonnie as a child. She considers this a high compliment - she made a lonely Wyoming car crash and an abandoned child so real that her reader thought it actually happened.

The second compliment was when a reader wrote her a letter and praised The Thirteenth Skull, Bonnie's third Eileen Reed book. The reader loved the novel and hated the villain so much that she thought he should have died more slowly. Bonnie will never forget this compliment either, for it means that she created a character so evil and so hateful that the reader wanted him to die...harder.

Bonnie's favorite stories are the ones where ordinary people are placed in world-changing events. The people who live in her stories are fictional, but she tries to make them so real you want to have coffee with them. Or kill them.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent thriller, September 8, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Earthquake Games (Hardcover)

There once was a man who wanted to be President of the United States more than anything else in the world. He became a Senator, but lost when he ran for the top office. Jacob Mitchell does not give up his dream. Instead, he receives an appointment as Director, Ops 12E at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. He now controls a machine that causes earthquakes and successfully tests the device in the Colorado Springs area.

Police Detective Eileen Reed, liaison to the Air Force, visits the base when someone finds one of Mitchell's men dead in an apparent suicide. However, the victim was murdered because he was going to reveal Mitchell's intentions with the earthquake machine. Eileen and her partner investigate the case as if a murder occurred. Soon they start honing in on Mitchell and his diabolical plan.

Anyone who previously read GROUND ZERO, the first Reed tale, will recognize many of the secondary characters returning for a thrill a minute ride. This includes the sexy Joe the boyfriend, Lucy the CIA analyst, and Eileen's partner Dave. They add depth and color, but even more significantly ground the suspense thriller to the believable plot. Bonnie Ramthun provides her fans with a sure shot best seller.

Harriet Klausner

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A page turner with great characters!, November 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Earthquake Games (Hardcover)

This book builds upon, yet stands independant of, Ramthun's Ground Zero. I like how the characters are becoming more real to me, yet stay just as entertaining. The premise is a good one, someone who uses any means at their disposal to get what they want. I find that is very posible. I can see someone using a local legend to cover up a murder, too. As in Ramthun's first book, the finale is a rip-roaring adventure with all the characters present. Another consistant bonus is no stupid mistakes by the investigators. I hate it when someone does something to carry the story without logic. I also like the fact that there are real married people, who can do more than act as cannon fodder. I am interested in what comes next! This is the kind of book to pick up at an airport, read on the trip, and never have a dull moment. I loved it!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars There was some growth..., June 25, 2002

By 

Jamie M. Richards "Bicycle Commuter" (Lafayette, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Earthquake Games (Paperback)

While there was growth from Ground Zero, Bonnie still needs to work on plot. The plot should be a natural progression of events leading to a conclusion (puzzle pieces make the entire puzzle) and should not be forced (force the pieces together and I bet the picture doesn't look like the one on the box!). The opening event (a shooting) is interesting, but it has nothing to do with the real storyline (earthquake games)! It is only placed there as a convenient way to develop a character and solve internal character conflicts; this conflict would have been better served by more strongly SHOWING the character's actions and not using a psychiatrist to allow the conflict to be TOLD. These stories have wonderful technological concepts and as long as she keeps growing as a writer (and gets over her fixations with food and coffee), I will continue to buy her books.