The three days I spent with Christy Turner were very difficult days. He's a brilliant scientist, and I have the highest respect for his scientific mind, but as a human being, he's not a very nice person. But that makes him interesting. You don't become a journalist to seek out nice people who will say nice things to you and you write nice articles about them. In fact, Preston's attraction to archaeology seems to have less to do with the complexity of the field itself than with the complexity of the scientists who people it.
Archaeologists tend to be very controversial people.
The personality conflicts, the passion, the outrageous claims and counterclaims that go on in archaeology, especially Southwestern archaeology, make for a very fertile ground for a novelist. And, of course, so do the other themes woven into this book. The redrock canyons, about which Preston has learned the hard way, provide a setting filled with history and elemental danger. It also adds another layer of cultural richness to the already complex interior world of this fast-moving tale. But don't ask Preston to tell you if the resulting book is good.