Tonopah by Christopher A. Lane

I first read Eden's Gate by this author a few years ago and thought it was pretty good. I saw Tonopah on the bookshelf at my local Christian book store and thought about purchasing it several times over the years, but never got to it. Recently, it came up on PaperbackSwap, and I grabbed it.

In the book, a high school teacher with delusions of being an archaeologist takes some of her students on a day-long dig in the Tonopah Range in the Nevada desert - Precariously close to an old nuclear test site, which just happens to be being used currently for.... well now, that would give away the ending wouldn't it.

The teacher and her students find things buried they shouldn't and a small group of military men stationed on the range become involved with her and the chase is on. Throw in some bungling thugs, car bombs, the FBI, conspiracy theories, and creation science vs. evolution and you've got an interesting read.

I was a little disappointed with the outcome of the story. I was hoping for something more involving the creation/evolution part of the story - but that was really just a plot device to kick start the action of a pretty normal action story.

From the Publisher
She found the fossils out in the
sun-baked Tonopah desert, along with more trouble than she'd ever dreamed of . .
. . If Melissa Lewis had known that she and her three high school students were
trespassing in a restricted military zone, they'd have left before they ever
stumbled across the fossilized bones. As a creationist in paleontology, Melissa
suspects she's onto something incredible. What she doesn't know is that she's
under surveillance by U.S. Marines. And that's just for openers. Her discovery
has also placed her in the cross-hairs of hired killers. And it's about to sweep
her into a deadly vortex of top-level government scandal, FBI investigations,
high-tech military maneuvers, and nuclear testing. Through it all, one thing
becomes abundantly clear. Someone will do anything to gain possession of
Melissa's fossils. Between Melissa and a hit man's bullet stands only her faith
. . . and one courageous marine. But can he protect her from circumstances
deadlier than the brutal Nevada desert? From the best-selling author of
Appearance of Evil and Eden's Gate comes Tonopah: gut-twisting action woven with
insights into the origins of the world and the relationship between personal
choice and eternal destiny.

Author Biography:
Christopher A. Lane is the author of Eden's Gate and the best-selling Appearance
of Evil, as well as several children's books, one of which was awarded the Gold
Medallion. He and his wife own Alpha-Omega Productions, which provides media
reviews to subscribers. They live in Colorado Springs with their
children.

(NOTE: This review was originally published on my family blog on 1/31/07).