After her well-received debut, Blood Junction
(2002), with its absorbing interaction of present and past, an overly busy plot mars Carver's otherwise exciting, frightening second mystery. Like Australian journalist India Kane, the heroine of Blood Junction
who here plays second fiddle, Georgia Parish, a publisher's rep, faces a host of mind-boggling perils. At her grandfather's funeral in remote northern Queensland, where Georgia grew up in a hippie commune, a friend who owns a small airline gives Georgia a spot on a connecting flight home to Sydney, replacing a no-show. When the plane makes a crash landing, killing the pilot and one of the passengers, scientist Suzie Wilson, Georgia suspects sabotage. Georgia soon becomes the target of a violent gang, who kidnap and torture her, then kidnap her mother and threaten to kill the mother if Georgia can't get the information they want in one week. With India's help, Georgia must figure out who murdered the no-show plane passenger; what research Suzie and her brother Jon were working on; who another passenger on the fatal flight, Lee Denham, really is; and the connection between Suzie and Yumuru, a healer who cares for Georgia's injuries after the crash. And that's only the beginning—a tall order for a book rep! If the disjointed story tries to cover too much, from experimental antibiotics to Chinese politics, the novel nonetheless has its rewards, notably the distinctive characters and the vibrant picture of the harsh, exotic Australian wilderness. Agent, Elizabeth Wright. (Mar. 9)
