An Honorable Man, by Paul Vidich

 

An Honorable Man, by Paul Vidich

 

An Honorable Man is set in the early, turbulent 1950’s in American.  World War II was over, but the cold war had just begun.  And with the cold war came internecine skirmishes between the tried and true Federal Bureau of Investigation and the new kid on the intelligence block, the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization that had its roots in World War II and the Office of Strategic Services.

 

Add to that what has become known as The Red Scare, when Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin alleged that the U.S. was infested with Soviet Agents, throughout the government and the nation, and waves of conflict washed over every government agency and every government employee.

 

You may see tangential elements in our own time.  Substitute any number of today’s angry labels for ‘communist’ in the 1950s.  Pick your own metaphor, but The Red Scare, like so many other sloppy paintings was like putting on lipstick with a wet mop. Yes, there were communists in government, but the splatter fell on the good and the bad and the innocent.

 

Have you heard of The House Un-American Activities Committee?  Think of the 1950’s so-called blacklist in Hollywood.

 

The whole political time carried the stench of an open sewer, and yet intelligence activity prodded on, with the CIA and the Soviet counterpart doing their best to outsmart each other.  In the U.S. there were scandals and spies and trials.  On the Soviet side there were roundups and executions.

 

Paul Vidich takes the reader into the messy past, with characters on each side and devoted to each agency, with point and counter point.

 

And in this novel there are spies and counterspies and conspiracies and counter conspiracies, but all focused on the human element, the decisions and indecisions and personal angst, and person tragedies

 

Some authors tell a story and others, the very best ones, make you live a story.  It’s what has been said many times, that a good novelist turns poetry into prose.  Vidich lives up to that high standard, with short, but effective descriptions that bring moods and situations into focus.

 

Some examples:

 

“The monastic cell suited his suffering and after he’d returned divorced from Vienna and his life was turned upside down.    He’d moved in on a temporary basis, but one month became three years with the deceptive ease of a film dissolve.”

 

 

“I need to speak to you,” Beth said, urgently, “Can I come in?”

 

There were hints of greasepaint on her neck when she’d rushed to leave the dressing room after her evening performance.  She still wore mascara, and she’d been crying, which had made her eyeliner run.”

 

You will grow to know these characters in An Honorable Man.  They confide in you.  They bring out the best and worst in each other. But, even so, you’ll find you don’t know all their secrets, but the tightly woven plot makes you yearn to know.  An Honorable Man will lead you down back alleys and into the world of spies and the realm of constant suspicion.   Tight. Exciting. Keeps you on edge to the last page.

Invisible, by James Patterson and David Ellis

Invisible, by James Patterson and David Ellis

If you ever, ever want a page turning thriller, grab a James Patterson novel.  My only caveat is:  Give yourself plenty of uninterrupted time. Be willing to give up some sleep and a few meals.

Did you realize Patterson has had 114 best sellers?  Seems impossible.  How does he do it?  Ever noticed that Patterson almost always has a co-writer?  The long and short of it is, he comes up with a fifty to sixty page outline and turns it over to another author for the writing.  But, it isn’t cruise control.  He edits and collaborates and maintains control of details, such as the cover and publicity.

Unless you’re blind, you can see he maintains more control than he admits to.  The stories are always fast paced, with short sentences, short chapters, and always, always entertaining, with twisting plots.  To loosely paraphrase his intent, he always wants anyone who picks up one of his books to be in for a good, intense page-turner that never slows down.

He’s been quoted as saying, he’s not trying to write War and Peace, but trying to entertain millions of people.  Boy, has he done that!

With Invisible, he and David Ellis do that again!

Emmy Dockery is a somewhat disgraced FBI Research Analyst, who’s been put on a leave of absence. 

I admit to a great prejudice. As soon as I see a female name in a novel, in many cases I’m ready to put the book down.  In my opinion, too many female protagonists are angst filled, self-analyzing characters with a penchant for comparing sunsets to soft satin and apologists for every character flaw known to man.

I like strong female characters.  Take Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice.   Elizabeth can hold her own in anybody’s company and makes no apologies, nor does the author have to result to ridiculous pandering.

Emmy Dockery is in the same mold.  No false modesty.  No dreamy-eyed fixation on her male counterpart, Harrison ‘Books’ Bookman.  More professional respect than anything else.

Here’s the riveting plot:  There’s a serial killer on the loose and as a disgraced, but intelligent and professional research analyst, Emmy keeps analyzing.  But, who else but her can see the trail, when everyone else only sees the forest?  Who can blame them? It’s not as if the FBI, although their resources are indeed mighty, can keep track of every puff of smoke, from the thousands of fires and fire related deaths that occur each and every year.

This killer leaves no trail and his viciousness is literally covered in smoke. So what evidence does Emmy have?  A little of ‘I suppose’ and a lot of ‘it only makes sense.’  That’s all ya got?  Well, get the hell outta my office and keep a low profile while you’re on suspension, unless you never want to work here again.

But, talking to Emmy about giving up the trail, is like trying to explain to a bulldog that he really should let go of a well-gnawed bone.

Gritty characters all round.  Plenty to admire and hate.  The plot is breathtaking and nail biting.  The killer is remarkable.

Invisible?  There’s a lot here that’s invisible and it not just the killer.