David Cole (3)

I'm so glad I found this book while on holidays. The main character is Laura Winslow, a 40 year old, part Hopi Indian, computer hacker who has mostly given up hacking because she has seen too much violence while on assignments. She was hooked on Ritalin for a while but now her drug of choice is long-distance running. Her business partner convinces her to take one more hacking contract because the contact asked for her by name. Her live-in partner, meanwhile, is called in by the police for his expertise as a forensic anthropologist to determine if bone fragments found in a new development are human. The same marshal is involved with both cases and soon so is Laura. This is not a whodunit story as it becomes obvious fairly early on who the perpetrators of the murders are. The suspense hinges on whether Laura and the marshal can track them down and stop them before more people are killed. In true suspense style that question is not resolved until the second last chapter.

All in all I enjoyed this book and I will be looking for more by David Cole. I especially want to read the earlier books in this series to understand some of the references made in this book.… (mere)

I've enjoyed David Cole's Laura Winslow series for its edgy main character, its depiction of the desert, and for some of the hard-hitting issues the author brings into his stories.

"Laura Winslow" is a false identity for this woman hiding from a dangerous and painful past on the reservation. She constantly fights her addiction to Ritalin, which makes her thoughts jump all over the place until she can't concentrate. Since Scorpion Rain is written from Laura's point of view, I sometimes felt as though I couldn't concentrate and that my own thoughts were skittering around inside my skull. That's the best way for a writer to get readers inside his character's head.

Because of her past and because of her addiction, Laura has trust issues-- especially concerning the government. She should believe in herself more, but it's difficult. Her past is always going to haunt her; her past is always going to be her weak link.

Scorpion Rain is a twofold mystery. One concerns the kidnapping of Laura's friend Meg. That mystery is solved, and we are given our answers. However, the second mystery (which I won't give away) is not answered, which bothered me a bit.

Laura also bothered me, and I wasn't rooting for her success to the same degree as I have in the past. It has me wondering if I've outgrown this character in the time since I read the previous book (Stalking Moon). I hope not because this has always been one of my "go to" series. I'll just let Laura percolate away in the back of my brain for a while before I pick up the next book. It's waiting patiently for me on my to-be-read shelves.… (mere)

I decided to read the Laura Winslow mysteries, which are set in Arizona, while on vacation in Arizona. This is the third in that series and I am having a hard time warming up to Laura. She has the potential to be an interesting character being a Hopi woman who is a computer nerd but other than the first book her native ancestry hasn’t played much role and there is not much explanation about her computer activities.In this book Laura has changed her name again and is living on a horse ranch close to the Mexican border. She does computer jobs for Bobby Guinness and has been making lots of money from them. While on one job in Las Vegas she is contacted by Bobby and told to turn on CNN and then get back home. CNN is showing pictures of two women murdered in the desert. As details emerge it seems that there is a large smuggling operation bringing European women through Mexico and into the USA to work in brothels and strip joints. Laura gets involved to find out who is running the operation because she learns that her ex-husband, Jonathan Begay, is involved trying to help these women in Mexico. Laura hasn’t seen Jonathan in more than 20 years when he took their daughter, Spider, and disappeared. Laura isn’t too interested in Jonathan but she does want to find Spider. She teams up with Rey Villaneuva for backup and goes into Mexico where she does find Jonathan. However, his information about Spider is old. One point that annoyed me is that Laura has several times mentioned how she kept looking for Jonathan and Spider but could never find any trace of them. Yet, Spider apparently made contact with her father by searching the internet and found an address for him to send him a picture. I have one more David Cole book but I’m not sure if I will read it. I haven’t found that they have gotten any better as they progress.… (mere)

This is the second book in the series starring Laura, a Hopi woman who is a computer guru. She is very good at finding people and also very good at hiding her own identity. The first book, Butterfly Lost, had her living in Tuba City and finding the murderer of young Hopi girls. She left Hopi territory at the end of that book in an attempt to distance herself from the violence involved with that search. Except that violence has a way of finding Laura and people around her.Laura is now living in Tucson. She uses her computer skills to help Miguel Zepeda, a PI of the Tohono O’odham Indian nation. Zepeda has been hired by a pharmacist, Ana Maria Juarez, who has uncovered some fraudulent transactions on the computer system of the firm that employs her. Ana Maria is deaf which makes communication rather difficult especially since she has lost her hearing aid. Her fiancé, Jeffrey, tried to talk Ana Maria out of starting this investigation but since she is determined he helps her convey information to Laura. Laura isn’t sure if she wants to take this case and she would like to talk to Miguel about it but Miguel isn’t answering his phone. Then, late at night, Rey Villaneuva knocks on Laura’s door. Rey is another employee of Miguel’s but he and Laura have never met. Rey used to be married to Miguel’s daughter, Meg Arizana, and he has not been able to get in touch with Miguel. He thinks something bad has happened to Miguel and that it concerns the case Laura is working on. Rey is a Vietnam vet and an ex-Border Police cop. He never goes anywhere without at least one firearm. Laura is not sure she likes Rey but he does possess certain skills that she needs in order to solve the case and stay alive. I thought there were a few loose ends in this book and I never did understand the fraud scheme that Laura uncovers. It is far bigger than just a few fraudulent prescriptions involving illegal adoptions, foster care clients that don’t exist and money laundering on a large scale. However, it was never explained very well which I think is a major flaw in a book about internet fraud. On the plus side I really like the Arizona setting with all the details about flora and fauna and native customs. I’ve got at least one more book in this series to read and I’ll see what I think of it.… (mere)