Book Review: A Dangerous Fossil, A Jurassic Jemma Book, John J. Delaney
Mystery: A Dangerous Fossil, A Jurassic Jemma Book, John J. Delaney
Blog Tour: July 7, 2023
Is it weird to say that I really like the protagonist in the book, but I’m not sure she can be trusted? At least not in her relationships?
“Jurassic” Jemma Thorne is a university lecturer, a trustee for the local museum, and an avid fossil hunter. One day she is exploring with her dog, Dino, along a beach which had some newly exposed soil. There, Dino finds the jawbone of a plesiosaur, a giant predatory reptile contemporary with dinosaurs. Jemma quickly organizes a dig, gets her nephew Billy and some of his friends to help, and recovers the plesiosaur before the high tide rolls in.
After that, things get very interesting. A cliff wall falls, cutting Jemma, her other nephew, Freddy, and Dino off from the trail and in danger of drowning. She invites her boyfriend, Dave, to move in. A college flame from America reappears. An offer is made to purchase the plesiosaur. Another offer is made to purchase the land from the museum to build a hotel and casino. A colleague works hard to undermine Jemma at the university and in the community. The plesiosaur is mounted in the museum. A few nights later, it was stolen. She is threatened by , (another) ex-boyfriend. And then, people start dying.
Someone is trying to kill Jemma. Fortunately for her, they were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, though, other people are paying the price for the murderer’s errors with their own lives.
John J. Delaney has created a very flawed protagonist, though I think many will recognize some of her flaws in their own character. She is fiercely stubborn, sometimes to the point of rage. She is also entangled emotionally between the one of two ex-boyfriends and her current partner. She carries a lot of guilt from an incident in childhood that she could never forgive herself for.
Jemma may be flawed, but she is also very strong. She is passionate about fossils, passionate about teaching, passionate about the museum, and passionate about her daughter. In the end, some of her troubling character traits (troubling to me, anyway), propel the plot to its conclusion and serve her very well.
Our thanks to Anne Cater of Random Things for our copy of A Dangerous Fossil, given so we could provide an honest review. The opinions about this novel are solely those of Scintilla. For other perspectives, check out the other bloggers on this tour.
Book Review: A Dangerous Fossil, A Jurassic Jemma Book, John J. Delaney
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