Whiteout, by Ken Follett

February 24 2006 (21:46:00) ( 0 views )

I've read Ken Follett's novels for many years, remembering back to The Eye of the Needle, and The Key to Rebecca as two of the best thrillers ever. His writing has been quite diverse since, including such unusual yet terrific books as Pillars of the Earth and On Wings of Eagles -- the latter being a nonfiction account of Ross Perot's efforts to rescue his employees from the Iranian revolutionaries in the days following the overthrow of the Shah.

Follett has a knack for the thriller, and for the original. Both are well displayed in this novel, which is a great weekend's entertainment or just about right for a long airplane trip.

I must mention that I'm not really happy with the bio-terrorism angle of the plot in this book. It seems that both Mr. Follet's and my government have made enough hay on that theme without his help. But having said that, the plot is very well done and the book provides plenty of suspense along with sufficient character development to keep us involved.

The principal character of the book is Toni Gallo, an ex-cop now working as head of security at a medical research laboratory in Scotland. The abovementioned terrorists plan to steal a deadly virus that is stored in the lab, and the attempt is carried out during an unexpected blizzard that chokes the roads and makes every movement a challenge.

The story of how Gallo handles this situation and the other characters in her life as well is well thought out and believable.

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson

Going into this I have to admit that I am 100% hooked on Neal Stephenson. I think he's a bit younger than me and for that I'm thankful, for he may be around to write more books for a long time.

Snow Crash is far from his latest, but it's his latest for me. I've read a few of his others: Cryptonomicon, Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World. These are all excellent, as far as I am concerned. And so was Snow Crash, even if I may be so bold as to say that I can see the progress Mr. Stephenson has made since 1992 when he wrote this novel.

For a pretty good summary of Neal Stephenson's life and works so far, see Wikipedia.

As for Snow Crash, I'm glad to be an amateur critic. A professional wouldn't be able to take the time to read a 13-year-old book and then write about it in his column, he'd be too busy reading the latest stuff and forming opinions about it. But for me there are no such restrictions; as far as I know my readers are few (if any) and if they have come here to keep up on the latest trends in literature they are already sorely disappointed.

This was one of the most entertaining books I've ever read. Its vision of the near future (very near now, 13 years later) is provocative yet humorous enough to avoid extreme grimness.

Its protagonist, Hiro Protagonist (good heavens), is a hacker living in California in some undisclosed future year. He becomes aware that there is a very serious threat to both the "metaverse" and the real world from a virus called "Snow Crash," a reference to a blanked-out computer screen showing only what (in the old days of broadcast TV) used to be known as "snow."

In this whirlwind story he befriends a 15-year-old skateboard "Kourier" named YT, a street-wise young girl with an arsenal of high-tech weapons that she uses in pursuit of her profession -- which is basically delivering messages and packages by "pooning" vehicles and being towed at high speed through the maniacal jungle that California has become.

Other important characters include Uncle Enzo, head of the MAFIA; L. Bob Rife, televangelist and corporate emperor; Raven, an Aleut with a motorcycle, glass-tipped spears, and a nuclear warhead; Ky Nguyen, a bionically enhanced veteran of Vietnam; Da5id, friend and wealthy hacker who is injured by Snow Crash (it can crash both computers and programmers, as the latter have brains that have come to terms with digital language); and Juanita, Da5id's ex-wife, an object of Hiro's admiration and would-be affection, and religious mystic.

Did I use the word "whirlwind" already? Yes, I did. It was inevitable.

The story leads Hiro on a crazy chase, trying to run down and destroy L. Bob Rife and the evil virus that he's about to unleash on both the real and virtual worlds. Action takes place both in the "metaverse" (sort of a graphically-enhanced super-realistic Internet where people are represented by "Avatars," and interact with others according to how the metaverse code is written. NB: Hiro P. is one of the coders of the metaverse, an advantage not to be overlooked.) and in reality -- although the question is begged: which world is less real?

There is sword-fighting, love-making, motorcycle riding, and lots of heavy speculation about the significance of Sumerian myth and stories from the Old Testament as they might pertain to the present day. Hiro comes to the conclusion that the myth of Babel is really a story of salvation, when humans were freed from bondage to a type of machine language control that is never completely suppressed. It comes out at times in history as glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, as in the Pentecost, and Southern tent-revival meetings. Snow Crash is a virus written in this very old and powerful language, and it threatens to enslave the world, or at least California, to the whims of L. Bob Rife.

If you like computers and have ever thought about any of this stuff, read this book. If not, read it anyway. Stephenson is very habit-forming. His later stuff is nothing less than fascinating and I regret that I did not begin this project until I had read the abovementioned books. He is obviously very well-versed in all manner of history, and has given a lot of thought to the progress of humanity through the ages.

Thanks to William Lychack

My heartfelt thanks to Mr. William Lychack (author of The Wasp Eater, about which I wrote some inadequate words last year) for his very nice letter. He didn't even mention that I called him "John" in the title of that post. Please excuse the errors of the elderly, sir.

I am very gratified that what I wrote was pleasing to you, Mr. Lychack. Your book held me in its spell when I read it, and for that experience thanks are hard to express. When I find a book with characters that come alive in that way, that takes me into its atmosphere so completely and makes me care about what happens in its pages -- well, that is what I'm looking for when I read. The end of such a book always leaves me a little sad that I have to leave that paper world and search for another.

Furthermore I can't tell you how pleased I was that you actually read this little blog -- having been read by a "real writer" has gone irrevocably to my head and I shall be impossible to live with henceforth.

Please give us more, Mr. Lychack. And thank you, again.

EL

Therapy, by Jonathan Kellerman

The Alex Delaware series by Jonathan Kellerman has long been one of my favorites. Therapy, (2004) is a recent addition to the series.

Obviously I've missed one or two before this novel, as Alex Delaware is no longer with his lady of many adventures, Robin, the guitar-maker. Robin does appear briefly in the role of "ex," however, as does the bulldog, and the indispensable Milo Sturgis is still prominent in this story. Delaware's new lady, Allison Gwynn, is an interesting replacement. She is a teacher, a hospice volunteer, and a psychotherapist.

Alex Delaware is a child psychologist that over the years has formed a working relationship with the LAPD. Milo Sturgis is his good friend, and a homicide detective with the force. Together they become involved in the mysterious murder of two young people found in a parked car in the driveway of an uninhabited house.

The mystery is as good as any of the others that I remember. And so is the psychology. Another important character in this book is "Dr. Mary Lou Koppel," a psychotherapist who has a popular radio call-in show. Koppel once treated the young man who was found murdered in the car. The identity of the young woman found with him remains a mystery until much later in the book.

There's a tremendous amount of intrigue and plot-twisting in this thoroughly enjoyable book, and the resolution of "whodunit" is quite satisfying. Even more skillfully done, however, is the portrayal of all the characters. The relationship between Delaware and Sturgis is the foundation of all these stories, and here it is continued and well utilized. There are many psychologists involved, and a lot of "shop talk" that sounds very authentic to my ears. (I work in the mental health treatment industry, although I am not a therapist, I'm a computer geek.)

Delaware and Sturgis are involved in a complicated plot that takes us as far away as South Africa and Rwanda. They encounter some really surprising characters, and uncover very high-level corruption. I love stuff like this, and used to read Robert Ludlum just because of these type of plot twists. I finally gave up on Robert, though. He just wrote too much for me, I guess, and I couldn't keep up.

Jonathan Kellerman has never disappointed me in the past, and his record is perfect with this novel as far as I am concerned.

EL

The Terrorists, by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

(Translated by Joan Tate. Swedish title: Terroristerna)

According to the dust jacket, this is the last in the Martin Beck series, finished only a few weeks before Per Wahlöö's death in 1975.

This novel begins with detective Gunvald Larsson travelling to South America to observe security at a state visit from a foreign diplomat. There is an assassination by bombing during the visit, with grisly circumstances, that is later accredited to a terrorist group known as "ULAG."

Back in Stockholm, Martin Beck, with Larsson and his other hand-picked men, prepare for a similar state visit, fearing that there will be an attempt similar to the South American tragedy.

Beck and his team are opposed by a cool sociopath named Heydt, and three others, including a French electronics expert and two Japanese bomb experts. The terrorists enter the country undetected and prepare to carry out their mission, while the police and national security try to stop them.

Interspersed with this is another plot, the story of Rebecka Lind, a young and single mother living in Stockholm. Although the dust jacket describes this character as a "hippie," I feel that Rebecka is quite a bit more complicated than that stereotype allows for. Her first adventure involves being arrested for robbing a bank. This is -- believe it or not -- a misunderstanding due to her remarkable level of naivete.

Rebecka's desperate struggle to survive and provide a good life for her baby is threaded through and contrasted with the other plot, where all the cleverness that Beck and his team can summon is used to prevent the assassination of an unnamed unpopular Senator from the United States. The father of Rebecka's child is a U.S. citizen who was avoiding the draft by living in Sweden during the Vietnam war. He returns to America on some bad advice, and winds up in prison.

This is a suspenseful yet strangely calm story, with the usual backdrop of bumbling political idiots trying their best to control Beck and his people. Beck is, as usual, doubly challenged to both defeat the terrorists and outwit the foolish maneuverings of his superiors to implement actions that would ensure the failure of his efforts. In the midst of this, he tries more than once to help Rebecka, with whom he has a brief contact when she is tried for bank robbery early in the novel.

The dust jacket says that Sjowall and Wahlöö wanted to write "a series that ...would trace 'a man's personality changing over the years..." That is, they wanted to show how Beck would change as a result of the forces of society and politics around him.

I found it interesting to re-read this novel as well as Cop Killer, having forgotten the exact flavor and content of these works. There are characters and connections from Cop Killer in this book,; it was a pleasant surprise to have selected these two to read out of the series.

It is interesting, 30 years after the writing of these books, to reflect on the weary cynicism expressed herein. Many Americans seem to think that the Scandinavian countries have achieved a sort of Utopia, an ideal mixture of benevolent socialism and democracy. While they surely have solved some problems, one wonders at what cost, and how well. It's an odd place to find inspiration for thinking about social change, socialism, and the welfare state, but I did find it there.

Police are one of the services that most people will agree the government should provide. It may be the vantage point that this allows that prompts the atmosphere for thinking about just what we do expect from our government, and what we're prepared to trade for it.

Beautiful Ghosts, by Eliot Pattison

This is the fourth novel Eliot Pattison has written about Shan Tao Yun, and the fourth that I have read. The others were (from first to third) The Skull Mantra, Water Touching Stone, and Bone Mountain.

Shan was once a highly-placed Inspector in Beijing. But uncovering the truth about the wrong people caused him to be discredited, removed from office, and thrown into prison in Tibet. In prison he comes to know and love the Tibetan monks sentenced to hard labor lao gai beside him. They impart an understanding of their spirituality, of Buddhism, and encourage him to strengthen his own Taoist practices. Religion is, of course, counter-revolutionary, and punishable by law in the People's Republic.

In each of these novels Shan is presented with a mystery that forces him to use the skills he once employed for his government. Overlaying each plot are the themes of the incredible beauty and spiritual mystery and power of Tibet and the Tibetan people, and their unspeakable oppression at the hands of the Red Chinese government.

In Beautiful Ghosts, Shan comes again into contact with Colonel Tan, the administrator of the county. Tan is once again trying to avoid political trouble with officials from Beijing. This time he is the reluctant host to Director Ming and Inspector Yao, who are searching for lost antiquities. A monk, Surya, is convinced that he has killed a man. As a result Surya casts off his robes and declares himself dead, and eventually takes up a new life among the people who carry night-soil in Lhadrung. Shan's old friends Gendun and Lokesh, illegal monks from the secret monastery of Yerpa, play important roles in this story, as do many other interesting Tibetan, Chinese, and British characters. Indeed, descendants of members of the Younghusband expedition of 1904 figure in this story.

An FBI agent from the USA, Corbett, is also involved, as is a trip to Beijing and the United States.

Again, Pattison has succeeded in writing a terrific police procedural tale, set in beautiful Tibet. He manages to evoke much of the Tibetan Buddhists' plight while celebrating their incredible spiritual strength. The ruggedness of the country and the people who live there left me with a strong impression of my own weakness and addiction to the comforts of life in 21st century America.

If you have not read any of these very entertaining and uplifting books I strongly recommend that you start with The Skull Mantra. Enjoy this rich experience of some of the best mystery writing coupled with fabulous descriptions of this country and its people, insight into the Buddhist religion and philosophy, and terrific character conceptualization and development.

Cop Killer, by Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo

I read some of the "Martin Beck" series several years ago, but I don't remember them well. This book is, as well as I do recall, a good example of the series. I found it throughly enjoyable. The reading list from Donald Knuth cited earlier in this journal reminded me of them, so I took this novel and another, The Terrorists, out of the library.

Cop Killer is a delightful read, and a short one. Sjöwall and Wahlöö were apparently believers in "leave them asking for more".

In it Martin Beck, Chief Inspector for the Swedish National Homicide Squad, is summoned to the little town of Ånderslov, near Malmo because a woman has disappeared. Foul play is suspected, but hasn't yet been confirmed.

As Beck works on this mystery, the incident that gives the book its title occurs in Ljunghausen. A fugitive from the scene of that crime is coincidentally involved in Beck's mystery in Ånderslov, and leads Beck's associate, Lennart Kollberg, to a solution of the original crime.

The book carries a strong flavor of tired cynicism, and despair with the state of society in 1970s Sweden. Many comments are made about the social damage caused by the welfare state, and a general attitude of disgust with the National Police force and its bureaucracy pervades the book.

I expect that the best known novel in this series is The Laughing Policeman, as it was made into a movie. I'll have to read, or re-read, that one as well