Even though I am a staunch advocate of David Morrell I missed this publication - however, I wasn't disappointed even though, 'Scavanger' now 4 years old.

A direct sequel to “Creepers” (which I read last year and really enjoyed), this had Frank Balenger trying to save Amanda (the woman he rescued in the first book and is now in love with) caught up in a a high-tech scavenger hunt for a decades-old time capsule, run by a god-like Game Master with an obsession for unearthing the past. The first book was very good, constantly turning up the tension and suspense and delivering a rollicking story and I was hoping for similar with this. Sadly, it wasn’t to be. The characterisation is all very brisk brushstrokes (and if you don’t remember “Creepers” you could be in trouble) while the locations are better handled, especially the ghost town site of the scavenger hunt. But it does fall down in terms of suspense, mainly because it’s a book of thirds - in the first, it’s not clear what’s going on, in the second it’s clear but slow and then, in the third, it’s well done but the ending is such a damp squib, I actually found it really annoying. From a character who seriously tests your patience (the afore-mentioned Game Master), to others only there are cannon fodder, to a game that simply makes no sense and that mishandled climax, this is difficult to love. Morrell’s a very good writer (even if, at times, he shows his research too much) and that saves this, but if I were you, I’d read “Creepers” then leave it at that.