Page has written mysteries (The Lethal Partner), books on mythology and history, and columns for such magazines as Science. With his latest novel, he proves very good at the growing genre of large hungry carnivores left over from times long past. Jack Whittaker is a spelunker, a caving guide, to whom authorities around Carlsbad, NM, turn for rescue operations. He has unearthed a vast and beautiful cave in which there is evidence of an undiscovered extinct species of bear that may be of interest to Cassie, his paleontologist ex-wife who left him because of his obsession with things underground. Unfortunately, the cave is on land belonging to a caustic rancher, and part of it may be a little too near a newly opened underground nuclear waste storage facility. Several workers at the facility have gone missing, and there may be something in the cave killing and eating local cattle. The book!s core message"that we endanger the environment because we don!t understand all its interconnecting elements"may be a bit simplistic, but the story is nicely executed and interesting and the characters well thought out and likable (even the bad guys aren!t so bad). Recommended for all public libraries."Patrick Wall, University City P.L., MO
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"This strange and terrifying story is great reading. Jake Page writes a very good yarn!" (Southwest Books of the Year )
"[Cavern] is merely fun. As fun, that is, as greed, terror and death can be." (Weekly Alibi )
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