This was a cheesy detective novel from the 70's. I really liked the story for the most part. My only problem is that there weren't very many female characters, and the female we saw the most was a "silly girl" character who was only there to frustrate the hero and even do dumb stuff that got them caught by the bad guys. She was definitely a damsel-in-distress that needed rescuing all the time. The overall storyline and especially the suspense as they are being trapped in the canyon by a seemingly crazy person was really well done. I got legitimately freaked out and had to stop reading when it was dark outside. :)