Library Limelights 265

 

Hillary Clinton & Louise Penny. State of Terror. USA: St Martin’s Press/Simon & Schuster, 2021.

Gotta say, I was captured from the get-go. What a combination: Clinton’s unique experience and Penny’s firm literary grip add up to a sensational thriller. After a U.S. election that ousted President Eric Dunn, new President Doug Williams has appointed Ellen Adams as Secretary of State, even though they are not politically aligned. Charles Boynton is her Chief of Staff and old friend Betsy Jameson is her closest advisor. Unknown terrorists begin blowing up buses in European cities, although someone had sent a precise warning to the Foreign Office, discovered only belatedly. Ellen’s in the thick of it as they try to trace the sender and forestall further mayhem. Her journalist son, Gil Bahar, is among the sources they desperately comb for intelligence reports. Pakistani nuclear physicists were the actual bus bomb targets; the trail of destruction seems to point to arms dealer Bashir Shah. In a secret deal, former President Dunn had had Shah released from arrest in Pakistan. Indications are that terrorists may have planted nuclear bombs in American cities.

The White House swarms with high-level cabinet members and all their assorted aides and experts—Tim Beecham, Department of National Intelligence, and General Whitehead, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are two of the central participants. Ellen rushes to Frankfurt, Muscat, Tehran, Islamabad, and Moscow as the plot races and twists across every page to find not only Shah and the next bombs but also the attack planners. Meetings with Iran’s Ayatollah Khosravi and PM Nasseri; with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Ali Awan; with the bemused Russian president; sending a special mission to Baluchestan: fearing for her family, Ellen’s in a mad blur of action and decision-making. She’s not afraid to threaten blackmail against a prominent world leader. After the slaughter of black ops troops on a commando raid, President Williams knows he has a traitor in his ranks.

Two key figures among the many are Gil’s Foreign Service girlfriend Anahita Dahir who is compelled to reveal her Iranian background, and former President Dunn’s once-press secretary Peter Hamilton who’d uncovered a dark web conspiracy. Characteristics of international political figures, tense diplomatic negotiations, and potential powderkeg situations have the realistic aura of today’s headlines (for starters, America has indeed pulled out of Afghanistan). Every meticulous detail of political craftmanship adds to the credibility of the whole story. You can’t miss the well-placed shots at the real former president. That wily Louise Penny has even worked Gamache and Three Pines into a small role. Vastly absorbing, if chilling; it’s a powerhouse!

One-liners

▪ “You went to court to defend journalists who wouldn’t reveal their sources, and now you ask me to reveal mine?” (131)

▪ “Bashir Shah was released knowing he could sell nuclear expertise and materials to other countries.” (184)

▪ The fact that this had all started under Eric Dunn would be lost in the frenzy. (304)

▪ It never occurred to him to wonder why, in the midst of the greatest crisis facing the nation, Barb Steinhauser’s assistant would be in the bar. (346)

▪ “But you doctored photographs, then blackmailed a head of state?” Williams demanded. (431)

Multi-liners

▪ He wasn’t just afraid. The President of the United States had been thrust into a near-perpetual state of terror. And he wasn’t alone. (40)

▪ Ellen Adams was used to people underestimating her. Accomplished middle-aged women were often diminished by small men. (90)

▪ “How do you know your son is not part of this plot? How do we know he didn’t plant the bomb?” (118)

▪ “They see Dunn as the only chance to stop the erosion of the American way. Not because he has a vision, but because he can be manipulated.” (178)

▪ “We warned your State Department about the physicists months ago,” Ardashir said. His voice was soft, almost matter-of-fact, as he delivered this bombshell. (259)

▪ “If Akbar was hired by him, that means Shah knows I came here. Spoke to you.” As Gil spoke, Hamza was nodding. “He’ll know you’re the one who gave me the information.” (309)

▪ He could see exactly what was happening through the night vision cameras on the helmets the Rangers wore. It was like being there, only not. (377)

Foreign Service posting

In the close, close, claustrophobic world of the Pakistani capital, clandestine meetings were held all day and all night. Between operatives and agents. Between informants and those who trafficked in information. Between dealers and users, of drugs, of arms, of death.

Between embassy staff and journalists.

It was a place and a time where anything could happen at any moment. The young journalists and aid workers, doctors and nurses, embassy staff and informants met and mingled in underground bars, in tiny apartments. At parties. They bumped up against each other. Ground up against each other.

Life around them was precious and precarious. And they were immortal. (21)

Allies

And Secretary Adams realized that while these men and women were predisposed to trust the US—wanted to, were perhaps even desperate to, considering what was at stake―the fact was they did not.

Not anymore. Not after the debacle of the past four years.

And she realized that a huge part of her job as Secretary of State would be to regain that trust. (108)

Fanatics

“You’re saying after more than two decades of fighting, the Taliban is back in control of Afghanistan?”

“It will be. And it will bring with it not just Al-Qaeda, but the Pathan. Do you know them?”

“They’re the ones who kidnapped Gil.”

“Secretary Adams’ son, yes. They’re an extended family of extremists, with claws in every organization, legitimate and otherwise, in the region. The current so-called democratic government of Afghanistan was propped up by us. Remove us, without a plan ...” He opened his hands. “All the rats come streaming back. All the ground lost. All the rights withdrawn.” (182)

Protocol

When meeting with the Iranian Foreign Minister, there should be no touching.

Use his formal title.

Her hair must be covered in a modest headscarf.

Never turn your back on him, she was told, and never look at the time. And a hundred other small things that would not cause offense.

While she’d certainly avoided insult, doing all those things had not actually gotten her anywhere. And though she had no desire to cause more damage to a relationship on life support, neither did she have time for this posturing. (224-5)

Alex Finlay. Every Last Fear. New York: Minotaur Books, 2021.

Likely I chose this book for its partial setting in Tulum, Mexico, conjuring fondness of long ago times. [ed: Fail; I don’t recognize this touristy Tulum!] The Pine family of Chicago, formerly of Adair, Nebraska, went to Tulum for a spontaneous holiday. All four ended up dead there in their rented cottage—father Evan, mother Olivia, teenager Maggie, youngster Tommy. Possibly a gas leak of some kind, but FBI Agent Keller gradually reads professional hit into it. Keller’s original mandate was investigating the company Evan works for; Marconi is concealing some drug cartel clients. The surviving son, Matt Pine, a student in New York, is devastated. Oh, and he has to break the news to his older brother, Danny, who is in prison for killing his girlfriend Charlotte—the reason why the Pines had moved away from their hometown. Only Olivia’s father there with dementia is a last tie. Evan and Maggie had since been dedicated, almost obsessed, with finding any evidence proving Danny’s innocence. A documentary made by Judy Adler went viral; it reconstructed the crime and painted Danny as a violent man. Now the filmmaker is at it again, a sequel with the Mexican murders.

The acting governor of Nebraska could, in theory, pardon Danny. Noah Brawn was Olivia Pine’s high school boyfriend, can she influence him? But he’s busy cleaning up the governor’s office of corruption charges against his predecessor. Matt flies on a useless trip back and forth to Tulum, encountering little interest in his family from a nasty Mexican cop, and a puzzling attempt to kidnap him. He determines, with Keller’s help, to learn what really happened the night Charlotte died because it seems to connect to his family’s deaths. Photographs and digital technology play a part. The timelines swirl before and after the deaths, wrapping tighter and closer to the truth. Finlay constructed this storyline well, with enough red herrings and sinister characters to satisfy the pickiest crime fan.

One-liners

▪ His brother refused to let his siblings see him locked up like an animal. (22)

▪ On Maggie’s wrists were tiny bruises, like fingerprints, as if she’d been held down. (98)

▪ But Matt loved Shyamalan’s movies because they were grounded in destiny—the protagonist unaware that everything in their lives had led up to a moment: that everything suddenly made sense; that they had a purpose in the universe. (204)

▪ She was from rural Oklahoma, so he supposed she had a higher tolerance for small towns. (285)

▪ Four coffins were stationed at the far end of the church, but it was the fourth one—the tiny wooden box—that caused each and every mourner to gasp as they entered First Presbyterian Church. (305)

Multi-liners

▪ The cops couldn’t care less, particularly the Nebraska cops in charge of the investigation. As far as they were concerned, Danny Pine’s case had brought them nothing but public scorn and even death threats. (72)

▪ “I didn’t say you could go. Sit down.” When Matt didn’t oblige, Gutierrez stood, gripped the nightstick with his right hand. (168)

▪ “He said she was trying to track down someone’s phone. Toby’s a computer guy.”(191)

▪ Keller didn’t flinch. She never had trouble with alpha males. She’d grown up with one, and understood that the alpha-ness was born of their own insecurities. (193-4)

▪ “Dad, it’s me. I know it looks like Charlotte, but it’s me. And if I can do this in Toby’s garage, whoever called you could too.” (221)

The argument

“Fine. Do nothing. Go back to school, and enjoy your carefree college life while your brother sits in a filthy prison cell.”

Matt stomped to the front door, grabbed his coat, yanked it on.

“I will. You know why, Dad?” Matt paused a beat. “Because that’s where Danny fucking belongs.” (90)

Adlers find evidence

“You could run the DNA, see if you get any hits,” Judy continued.

“The FBI isn’t a private DNA testing service. And we can’t disclose confidential investigation materials,” Keller said.

Judy frowned. “Look, our lawyer says you don’t have jurisdiction and we have no obligation to give you the sample. And we can hire DNA experts and genealogists and have them run it through public and consumer DNA databases. But let’s save us both some time, help one another out here.”

Keller wasn’t so sure that the Adlers’ lawyer was correct. Federal racketeering statutes gave the US jurisdiction over murders committed abroad if the crimes facilitated a domestic criminal enterprise, and the Marconi case gave her a hook. (100)

What’s left

Cindy’s eyes were misty. The first sign of emotion other than irritation or anger Matt had seen in his aunt since he’d arrived in Adair. He reached across the table and put his hand on hers.

Cindy gave a sardonic smile. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

Matt didn’t know what she meant by that.

“All we’ve got is a guy who doesn’t recognize us, and another guy in prison for life.” There was dark humour in her voice, masking the pain.

“No,” Matt said. “”We’ve got each other.”

It was the right thing to say, the kind thing to say. But the truth was, Matt felt alone. (268)

Adele Parks. Just My Luck. Toronto: Mira, 2021.

How an ordinary family is affected by the winning of millions in a lottery. Are the Greenwoods ordinary, you might ask, as you sense a trainwreck approaching. Father Jake drifts in and out of unfulfilling sales jobs; mother Lexi is a committed social worker; teenager Emily is totally involved with friends Ridley Heathcote and Megan Pearson, spawn of her parents’ best friends; brother Logan is younger. Trouble starts immediately with the Heathcotes and Pearsons claiming that they were partners in the Greenwoods’ winning ticket. After fifteen years of close friendship, it’s a shamefully hostile action. And an abrupt loss of a natural support group for the Greenwoods. Lottery officials and lawyers and press coverage are part of the circus that overshadows the initial euphoria of winning. Still, Jake and the kids engage in jubilant shopping sprees. Lexi desperately tries to maintain balance as their lives go upside down. That’s enough to deal with, right?

No, there’s more, spinning out of control. Jake wants to settle money on their former friends to make their claims disappear. Schoolmates turn viciously on Emily. Lexi secretly gives away a huge sum to one of her needy clients—Toma, who is fostering revenge for his family’s deaths. Importuning, invasive strangers make the Greenwoods feel threatened and isolated. Simmering beneath the surface is at least one duplicitous liaison among the three arguing couples. Lexi seems too overpowered to stop Jake and Emily from throwing a massive, indulgent party at unbelievable expense; everything that can go wrong, does. Friendship, deceit, trust and betrayal, the “winners” endure it all to the shocking end. Told from the POV of Lexi and Emily (and a bit from Tomas), this novel is so well done in plot and characters of all ages that I need to go and find more by Adele Parks.

Lexi

▪ He’s been ceaselessly laughing since our numbers came up. I don’t recognize him. I am beginning to think he is technically hysterical. (46)

▪ “I’m a whole new man,” he said gleefully as he got dressed this morning. I had to root through the discarded receipts in order to establish how much this new man had cost. (112)

▪ Have I started to think like Jake? Do I believe money can fix everything? (158)

▪ In a flash the older man picks up my laptop and says, “This will cover it.” The next moment he is out the back door. (210)

Emily

▪ But Ridley and I will get through this. I know we are only fifteen, but we’re really serious about one another. He is my One. We are soul mates. (27)

▪ I am not above buying friends. Monarchs have bought armies in the past. History doesn’t have a problem with that. Whoever says money doesn’t buy happiness is simply not shopping in the right place. (126)

▪ How could he have stood by and let them hurt me? And the photos he took! (162)

▪ Still, I thought as soon as they take the tape off, I’ll scream, but ripping the tape off was so painful I didn’t scream, I was too shocked. (312)

Toma

▪ “I had hoped you called me in because you tracked down the name of the landlord.” (54)

▪ “Those at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there,” Toma says, and then he flashes me a rare smile that beams into my core. (55)

▪ “But Lexi, I’m nearly there. Things are changing for me. You did that.” (159)

Ordinary Lexi?

I’ve always been the sort of person who shopped about, got estimates and compared quotes. I was a woman who regularly handed over coupons in supermarkets and Boots. I collect points on at least a dozen loyalty cards. I’ve always had to be that person, and I don’t really know how to stop. (181)

Guest list

“You can’t overestimate just how thrilling our win is to other people,” commented Jake smugly this morning. We were lying in bed, perusing the guest list. His attitude to the response was unadulterated joy. Mine was barely disguised panic.

“I’m nervous about the large number of unknown faces that will be arriving tonight,” I admitted. (242-3)

The price

I wish more than anything that she was here by my side being annoyed by my clinginess and what she calls righteousness. Resenting me for being her buzzkill.

I should have known that we’d pay. I did know. I would have paid in any other way. I’ve never felt so alone in my life. I want to be doing something, to bring her home. I want to be out there looking for her. It’s not enough to just sit and wait, wait and see what happens. (306)