What do you think?
Rate this book
Laura Winslow Mystery #3
Stalking Moon
After being captured by federal agents, ace hacker fugitive Laura Winslow agrees to aid the government in its attempts to uncover a massive criminal conspiracy in which human lives have become a commodity, only to discover that she has become the next target, unless she can first uncover the truth about the plot. Original.
295 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
19 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 10, 2022
I had a very hard time getting into this and almost DNF, but I kept trying and eventually the book began to get better. The finish is fairly good. One of the main problems for me was that the storyline is all about computers and chat rooms. I just don't like computers all that much. Recommended only to people who do enjoy computers.
October 14, 2011
First Line: One of my cell phones rang at 4:15 in the morning.
As a brilliant computer hacker, Laura Winslow knows of many ways to fly beneath the radar to avoid detection. Through the years, she's used many of those ways herself. As a youthful member of A.I.M. (American Indian Movement), she did things that have the government still searching for her. Her ex-husband stole their daughter, and Laura is still trying to find her, but at least she's overcome her addiction to ritalin. The smoother her life is, the more she'll be able to concentrate on what matters most to her.
This part-Hopi hacker-investigator has been hiding out in the Arizona desert, but her latest job puts her too close to the Mexican border at the same time that a large-scale illegal border crossing is taking place. Laura is now in the hands of federal agents who will expose and arrest her unless she agrees to help the government in uncovering a massive operation trafficking in human lives. Innocent women have already died in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Mexico, and unless Laura can discover the truth in a labyrinth of internet chat rooms and cover-ups, she may join them.
I enjoy this series and always recommend it to other crime fiction readers who enjoy mysteries in that mid-range between cozy and hard-boiled. Author David Cole imbues his books with a strong sense of place-- not through painting word pictures of breathtaking scenery, but through plots that deal with issues that are crucial to the area. His main character, Laura Winslow, is also one of the best in the genre.
Superficially, Laura is a character that many readers would prefer to ignore. Her background can easily make them uncomfortable. Laura's history-- and her growth and transformation-- is exactly what makes her such a wonderful character.
She's hiding from the federal government due to her participation in the American Indian Movement as a teenager and young woman. For the most part, she was following in her ex-husband's footsteps and not any real threat to life, liberty and the pursuit of the American Way. In a very real sense, her participation has already cost her her daughter.
Laura also became addicted to ritalin, and drug addicts also make most people uneasy. In the first book in this series, Butterfly Lost, she is still addicted and fighting it, which made her a very jumpy and unpredictable person. By this third book in the series, she's succeeded in kicking her habit, but she can still be unpredictable. Laura Winslow is a woman who evolves from book to book. She grows, she changes, she becomes stronger and more focused. It's this transformation of a character that has me hooked on these books. Laura is becoming a person who's willing to take control and stop hiding. No matter how conflicted she is, Laura always opts for doing what's right.
From the border towns of Nogales to the city of Tucson, Cole leads us through a maze of clues to the people smuggling women into the U.S.-- and the futility that comes with catching them. It's every bit the same as cutting the head off a hydra.
David Cole is a very talented storyteller and the creator of a marvelous character in Laura Winslow. It would thrill me to bits if more readers would discover-- and appreciate-- his books like I do.
As a brilliant computer hacker, Laura Winslow knows of many ways to fly beneath the radar to avoid detection. Through the years, she's used many of those ways herself. As a youthful member of A.I.M. (American Indian Movement), she did things that have the government still searching for her. Her ex-husband stole their daughter, and Laura is still trying to find her, but at least she's overcome her addiction to ritalin. The smoother her life is, the more she'll be able to concentrate on what matters most to her.
This part-Hopi hacker-investigator has been hiding out in the Arizona desert, but her latest job puts her too close to the Mexican border at the same time that a large-scale illegal border crossing is taking place. Laura is now in the hands of federal agents who will expose and arrest her unless she agrees to help the government in uncovering a massive operation trafficking in human lives. Innocent women have already died in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Mexico, and unless Laura can discover the truth in a labyrinth of internet chat rooms and cover-ups, she may join them.
I enjoy this series and always recommend it to other crime fiction readers who enjoy mysteries in that mid-range between cozy and hard-boiled. Author David Cole imbues his books with a strong sense of place-- not through painting word pictures of breathtaking scenery, but through plots that deal with issues that are crucial to the area. His main character, Laura Winslow, is also one of the best in the genre.
Superficially, Laura is a character that many readers would prefer to ignore. Her background can easily make them uncomfortable. Laura's history-- and her growth and transformation-- is exactly what makes her such a wonderful character.
She's hiding from the federal government due to her participation in the American Indian Movement as a teenager and young woman. For the most part, she was following in her ex-husband's footsteps and not any real threat to life, liberty and the pursuit of the American Way. In a very real sense, her participation has already cost her her daughter.
Laura also became addicted to ritalin, and drug addicts also make most people uneasy. In the first book in this series, Butterfly Lost, she is still addicted and fighting it, which made her a very jumpy and unpredictable person. By this third book in the series, she's succeeded in kicking her habit, but she can still be unpredictable. Laura Winslow is a woman who evolves from book to book. She grows, she changes, she becomes stronger and more focused. It's this transformation of a character that has me hooked on these books. Laura is becoming a person who's willing to take control and stop hiding. No matter how conflicted she is, Laura always opts for doing what's right.
From the border towns of Nogales to the city of Tucson, Cole leads us through a maze of clues to the people smuggling women into the U.S.-- and the futility that comes with catching them. It's every bit the same as cutting the head off a hydra.
David Cole is a very talented storyteller and the creator of a marvelous character in Laura Winslow. It would thrill me to bits if more readers would discover-- and appreciate-- his books like I do.
September 26, 2013
RATING: 2.5
She could be called a woman of many identities. Talented at creating a new persona when she needs to, Laura Winslow is widely recognized as the person that you want to have working for you if you’re trying to track down money on the Internet. As the book opens, Laura is in much demand. The job she’s doing in Vegas is cast aside for one that has a lot more potential—the tracking down of women who have come paid to come from Albania to purported freedom in Mexico. The reality is that no such freedom exists. The women are transported in cargo containers into the US and then sold into sexual slavery. At the same time, Laura gains another client who is trying to track down some embezzled funds.
The premise of the book starts out to be a good one. Laura is expected to navigate chat rooms and Instant Messaging services to follow the trail. This represents a challenge to her, in that the technology for IM doesn’t leave an identity trail on the hosting server. She’s actually rather worried that she won’t be able to do it, because it is an extremely difficult task. How she does do it feels like a cheat. And the details around how all this stuff works were too technical for the average reader.
What Laura finds that she really wants to do is find her ex-husband so that she can reestablish a relationship with her daughter, who she has not seen for almost 20 years. However, almost immediately, an old friend by the name of Meg shows up and gets another narrative thread going. Meg is teetering on the brink of mental illness. She establishes safe houses for women and is off her meds so that she can experience first hand the depression that many of the women she helps face. This is indeed a flawed approach, and Meg teeters within a manic depressive state for most of the book.
Confused? I was too as I read the book. The narrative was not presented in a linear fashion, and I struggled to find my way and understand what was going on. I found myself hopelessly lost, both in terms of the characters and the plot. I felt that the author was trying in some way to present a message about the women who were smuggled, but it never really was developed. As the main thread became the journey of Laura in search of her daughter, the more interesting threads of the smuggled women, the technological challenges and the money chasing were dealt with almost perfunctorily.
I was disappointed in the book. A large part of the book was spent in setting up her situation, and there were too many back stories and threads to make for a cohesive read. Cole does a good job in creating some misleading red herrings and depicting some harrowing action scenes, but overall, this book did not work for me.
She could be called a woman of many identities. Talented at creating a new persona when she needs to, Laura Winslow is widely recognized as the person that you want to have working for you if you’re trying to track down money on the Internet. As the book opens, Laura is in much demand. The job she’s doing in Vegas is cast aside for one that has a lot more potential—the tracking down of women who have come paid to come from Albania to purported freedom in Mexico. The reality is that no such freedom exists. The women are transported in cargo containers into the US and then sold into sexual slavery. At the same time, Laura gains another client who is trying to track down some embezzled funds.
The premise of the book starts out to be a good one. Laura is expected to navigate chat rooms and Instant Messaging services to follow the trail. This represents a challenge to her, in that the technology for IM doesn’t leave an identity trail on the hosting server. She’s actually rather worried that she won’t be able to do it, because it is an extremely difficult task. How she does do it feels like a cheat. And the details around how all this stuff works were too technical for the average reader.
What Laura finds that she really wants to do is find her ex-husband so that she can reestablish a relationship with her daughter, who she has not seen for almost 20 years. However, almost immediately, an old friend by the name of Meg shows up and gets another narrative thread going. Meg is teetering on the brink of mental illness. She establishes safe houses for women and is off her meds so that she can experience first hand the depression that many of the women she helps face. This is indeed a flawed approach, and Meg teeters within a manic depressive state for most of the book.
Confused? I was too as I read the book. The narrative was not presented in a linear fashion, and I struggled to find my way and understand what was going on. I found myself hopelessly lost, both in terms of the characters and the plot. I felt that the author was trying in some way to present a message about the women who were smuggled, but it never really was developed. As the main thread became the journey of Laura in search of her daughter, the more interesting threads of the smuggled women, the technological challenges and the money chasing were dealt with almost perfunctorily.
I was disappointed in the book. A large part of the book was spent in setting up her situation, and there were too many back stories and threads to make for a cohesive read. Cole does a good job in creating some misleading red herrings and depicting some harrowing action scenes, but overall, this book did not work for me.
July 12, 2014
Unfortunately human trafficing is still a major problem along the Mexico - Texas/Arizona/California borders. This is the story of trafficing woman from Eastern European countries to the U.S. who are sold into white slavery. While the story itself is fiction, the facts that the plot is based on is all too true.
Read
September 2, 2013"Laura Winslow 3"
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews