The Thirteenth Skull [Paperback]

Bonnie Ramthun (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ramthun's third mystery to feature Colorado Springs homicide detective Eileen Reed offers few surprises and little suspense, which may explain why Putnam, the publisher of the previous two entries in the series (Ground Zero and Earthquake Games), isn't putting out this one. Reed and CIA analyst Lucy Giometti are enjoying a vacation before Reed's wedding in Wyoming when a corpse turns up on Reed's parents' property-that of an archeologist who's discovered evidence of contact between the local Plains Indians and the Aztecs. The murder investigation, however, soon gets sidetracked. After Reed's fiance survives an attempt on his life that may be connected to attacks on military personnel involved with missile defense, the plot shifts into an unengaging cat-and-mouse game with a predictable resolution.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Loveland Press; Stated First Edition edition (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966269675
• ISBN-13: 978-0966269673
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,071,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting Thriller, October 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Thirteenth Skull (Paperback)

This third book in the Eileen Reed series combines elements of mystery, thriller, and science fiction for a great read. Colorado Springs police detective Reed is at her family home in Wyoming preparing for her wedding to Defense Department war gamer Joe Tanner. An archaeologist digging on ranch property is murdered, while in possession of a crystal skull allegedly having mystical powers. At the same time, an assassination attempt is made on the life of Tanner by a contract killer. When Joe flees to Wyoming to be with Eileen, the two storylines intersect and the action is almost non-stop ending in a fiery climax on Devil's Tower. Likable characters, great setting, and action-filled narrative-a fine follow-up to "Ground Zero" and "Earthquake Games."

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read from a charming writer!, June 4, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thirteenth Skull (Paperback)

Bonnie Ramthun has experienced more in her relatively short life than many people dream about. She was trained as a computer science major, which lead into the military. Once there, she engaged in helicopter crash investigations, which eventually led to war gaming. Her knowledge of the military and computers, plus a love of writing from an early age, uniquely qualifies her to write military mysteries of the first order. THE THIRTEEN SKULL is her third novel, following up the two critically acclaimed novels GROUND ZERO and EARTHQUAKE GAMES.

Eileen Reed is a big city cop who has come home to Wyoming to assist her parents in a missing professor case. The professor is an archaeologist, and Eileen not only finds his corpse in short order, but also stumbles upon an Aztec crystal skull and skeleton, buried beneath buffaloes who were led over a cliff in the traditional hunt for food by American Indians. In the meantime, Eileen's boyfriend, Joe Tanner, a defense programmer at a top-secret installation, has just survived an attempt on his life by two ruthless hit men. Joe flees to his beloved's parents' home, unwittingly endangering all who are at the Reed ranch, including some interesting guests. But it is the mystery surrounding Devil's Tower which eventually creates the denouement and solves the case:

"'Many thousands of years ago a group of seven maidens were gathering summer berries here. You may have heard that they were attacked by a bear, but no, this is not so. This place has been a bad place since the earth was born. Some places are like this, always dark and evil. Some places are strong and good. This place, even before the Tepee appeared, was bad.'"

Bonnie Ramthun has managed to combine numerous elements into a humdinger of a mystery: love; treachery; myth; the Great West; archaeology; music; and hunting. Ramthun has a unique style that grabs the reader from the first page and takes them on a ride that is both fascinating and grueling. And when it is over, the reader is sorry to see the tale end, which is the mark of a great novel. The plot kicks and is tightly woven; the characters are interesting and caring; and there is even pathos for the truly rotten bad guys. A great read from a charming writer!

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fast-paced excitement . . ., December 2, 2003

By 

Mark W. Danielson (Thornton, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Thirteenth Skull (Paperback)

I read The Thirteenth Skull in one sitting. Although it was the first Eileen Reed mystery I've read, I was intrigued from begining to end, and never found myself wondering if I'd missed anything from the two previous Eileen Reed mysteries. The characters are fun, the story plausable and interesting. I highly recommend this story to anyone who enjoys a good mystery.