Book Review--Fever Dream

Fever Dream
by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
ISBN 978-0-446-55496-1
© 2010

Fans of Aloysius Pendergast and Vincent D'Agosta (and a host of other interesting characters) will welcome them back. Readers new to this series (don't worry, the authors do a decent job of reminding us all of the backstory whenever it's necessary, but not so much that it bogs down the action) will enjoy the story.

It turns out that the aloof and guarded FBI agent Pendergast was actually married to a vivacious and intelligent red-head, Helen Esterhazy. Unfortunately, she died several years before the series started in a tragic accident. We get to see what Agent Pendergast might have been like if he and Helen had been able to continue their happy relationship. Sadly, that was not to be and the main character of the series suffers a major, traumatic loss and now lives in a state of grief. But, several years after Helen's death he discovers that what he thought was a horrible, unlikely accident was actually murder (most foul!). It also turns out that much of what he knew about his wife was…incomplete, at best.

What follows is a tense journey through such wildly dissimilar locales as the sweltering veldt of Zimbabwe, the jungles of New York City and the swamps and bayous of Louisiana (perhaps they're not so dissimilar after all). Pendergast dragoons NYPD Detective Vinnie D'Agosta to work with him and the pair travel the globe uncovering clues but also learning of a string of seemingly unrelated deaths along the way.

We are introduced to a John James Audubon whom most of us have never met, an indifferent artist who suffered a grievous illness, recovered to become a fabulous naturalist and artist but died (in this story, rather mad) with much of his work incomplete. And, along the way, a bit of the veil, that shrouds the life of Pendergast's "ward" Constance Greene, is lifted to give us some notion of just how bizarre the life of this long-time character in the series really has been.

The writing team of Preston and Child propel the crime-solving team of Pendergast and D'Agosta and a host of other memorable characters through a fast-paced mystery with as many twists and turns as the Mississippi river that flows past Pendergast's childhood home in New Orleans. Along the way some of the terrifying science brought to us by Preston's brother Richard in the Hot Zone adds to the drama. And, of course, the tension between "traditional" detective work and Pendergast's "unique" justice-finding methodologies adds to the interest level. This is one of the better books in the series and should not be missed.

Book Review -- Intelligence: A Story of the CIA by Susan Hasler

This is a spy novel unlike any other spy novel. It's full of dark humor and haunting surrealism. In fact, it's so surreal that it goes all the way around and comes back to reality. Reading it, you just know that, although the names have been changed to protect the guilty, this book really tells you what it's really like to work at the country's biggest spy agency.

Maddie James works at that spy agency. In a cube farm known as "the Mines." She's not a spy, she's an analyst. One of the people that sift through mountains of information for puzzle pieces that, even though they don't fit well together, show a picture of what is about to happen. She's dis-heartened, dis-enchanted and dis-interested in her job and her career. She (and the rest of the agency) failed to stop "the Strikes" (planes that crashed into the twin towers, the Pentagon and the ground a few years ago). Now, she's deathly afraid that she'll fail to stop some other disaster from occurring. She's afraid to sleep at night because she dreams of disasters and is unable to stop them. She's afraid to be awake because she knows disasters are lurking just around the corner and she'll be unable to stop them.

But, she has to work against both the terrorists who are plotting new mayhem but also her boss and the politicians who all have their own agendas.

Through the lens of Maddie's struggles, both past and present, we learn more about how the intelligence business strives to protect our country while being pulled in many directions by bureaucrats and politicians. Real truth is often sacrificed to find a palatable truth, the truth that "the President wants to hear."

Maddie and a group of sometimes lovable, sometimes distasteful colleagues are hot on the trail of a new group of terrorists with an unknown plan to attack in an unknown city. The trail leads through many twists and turns. And it constantly leaves the reader wondering "how, with all the obstacles in its way, does the CIA ever get anything done right?"

The first half of the story is darkly humorous and engaging. The second half is a fast-paced, engaging thriller. Together they make for a fascinating read.

Intelligence: A Story of the CIA
Susan Hasler
ISBN 978-0-312-57603-5

Book Review--The Domino Pattern by Timothy Zahn

Murder-on-a-train mysteries have been pretty much relegated to the ranks of historical fiction. Until Timothy Zahn mixed Murder on the Orient Express with space opera and came up with The Domino Pattern.

It’s never exactly clear how trains will become the dominant form of trans-galactic luxury travel in the future (at least not to me--maybe it's explained in an earlier installment of the series). And you have to suspend a fair amount of disbelief when you learn that this is a non-stop train express that travels for six weeks and can’t (not won't, can't) stop anywhere. But if you get past that point you find yourself in a fairly engrossing tale of intergalactic mystery and intrigue.

Frank Compton and his partner, Bayta, work for the Quadrail system (the Orient Express of the future) and do battle against an alien hive mind that is bent on galactic domination. First, though, they have to figure out who is killing their fellow passengers, how they're doing it and why. We know this is going to be a difficult task because the "how" seems impossible. The Quadrail system automatically scans all passengers, luggage and cargo for all known weapons or poisons (ignoring the fact that we all know that a well-trained assassin can kill with any number of things, including rolled up magazines--but again, we've suppressed our disbelief).

Luckily, Frank is carrying his portable gas chromatograph (that still uses an open flame--oops) and he is able to find out how the victims were killed. But that leaves two huge questions--why and by whom. Frank and his partner, along with some likely and very unlikely allies speed through intergalactic space, hot on the trail of the killer.

If you're looking for intellectual engagement, you should already know better than to pick up anything even approaching space opera. But, if you're looking for light entertainment and a throwback to yesteryear (through the far future) this is your book.

Book Review

The Domino Pattern

Timothy Zahn

ISBN978-0-7653-2212-8