Deathwatch is set in the warm summer months in the southwestern United States.  The desert where Ben has to survive is very dangerous.  There are dangerous mountains that Ben may have to climb.  There are blinding sandstorms, and there is hardly any food.  It is also very warm.  The intense heat of the sun can make the temperature reach 120 degrees.  Water, the most important thing needed to survive, is very scarce.  Animals are seldom visible during the intense heat of the day.  Well,  if you  know there is almost no water, then don't you think that this place would be very dry?  Of course.  There is dry sand all over, just pure dry sand for the next forty-five miles.  Unbelievable as it may seem, plant life does grow in this arid place.  The desert may sometimes be warm enough to fry an egg on the sand.  Ben knows his way around this arid place He also knows how to survive in the desert.

     Ben is about twenty years old,  and he has a smooth face (when he is not in the desert of course).  His hands are very work-worn.  Ben is very intelligent.  He knows where to find water, and  he teaches himself how to use an old man’s slingshot.  Ben also knows that he can cook birds and lizards by placing them in the intense sun.  Ben is also strong.  He climbs up a mountain without using any equipment.  Ben is all cut up by the second chapter, but he endures walking miles like that.  He can  also carry the large backpacks filled with items needed to survive. Ben  has brownish skin.  He is very sunburned because he is in the desert.  He is also brownish because he is of Native -American descent.  The scars all over his body make him appear darker.  He is even darker now than he is in the desert.
 
          Ben has to get out of the desert.  He also has to bring Madec to justice. Madec first shoots the old man, and then he abandons Ben in the desert. Ben then finds water in a cave.  I I think the theme of this book is that good always wins over evil.  Ben also learns that he can do anything he sets his mind to, including trying to bring a murderer to justice.
    
     I think overall that this book was by someone who knew what he were doing.  The author did a wonderful job of describing what the characters were doing and feeling.  The author could have done a better job of explaining what everything was (to this day I still do not know what a bighorn is).  For example he expects you to know what  the names of all the guns are.  This novel is like many other novels I have read, for example Hatchet by Gary Paulson. Both novels have a main character that has to learn to survive in the wilderness.  I would recommend this book to someone who would like to be bored out of his mind.  Why do I think this book is so boring?  Well, the characters are dull, and the plot is almost the same as many other books.  As an  example of why this book is so bad is, Madec chose to throw away the sling shot that would incriminate him in plain sight while a doctor was in the room.  Also, I think that Madec could have been a little more mean, or the author could have made him a little  easier to hate.  But if you still want to read this book after all I've told you, then get ready to have a days worth of  day dreams in about an hour.  Just remember that I forewarned you.