Dinosaur Summer has four major settings: Gluck's circus, a freighter, a river in Venezuela, and El Grande—the plateau of the lost world. Much of the novel's suspense derives from the anticipation it generates in the reader for the delayed appearance of El Grande. Circus Lothar whets the appetite for adventure by presenting the dinosaurs and then depicting a frightening show in which the venator Dagger threatens to break out of its cage.

The danger and the suspense increase as the narrative leaves the circus for the long journey to El Grande. The dinosaur cages on the cramped freighter leave little room for people to move around them, and great care must be taken near the predators. One dinosaur dies from the unhealthy conditions, a foreshadowing of what is to come. Returning the animals to their original environment seems a good idea in theory but could actually...