On his own or with a co-writer, James Patterson pens more crime thrillers than any two or three other authors combined. Nary has a year passed in which a couple or three of his latest books doesn't cross my desk. A number of homicide detectives and private eyes are his literary creations. The most popular is Alex Cross of the Metro Police Department (Washington, DC).
KILL ALEX CROSS by James Patterson 375pp, 2011 Century paperback. Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 595 baht
One might think that anyone so prolific would run out of steam, yet to Patterson's credit there's no sign of it. While not all his plots are original, those that aren't have unexpected twists. Happily he doesn't overwrite or pad, keeping his stories to under 400 pages. Kill Alex Cross is by himself alone.
As novels are expected to, it has two plots. Both are given pretty much that same emphasis and, at times, are enmeshed. But they turn out to be separate. In one, the two pre-teenage children of the President of the United States are kidnapped. No ransom is demanded. Presumably they will be killed, if they haven't already been.
In the other, terrorists from Saudi Arabia are in the US on missions of destruction. To ease the suspicions of Immigration, they arrived as actual couples, the wives at least as well trained in mayhem as their husbands. They call themselves Al Ayla: The Family. Four couples to a cell. Murder is second-nature to them.
Poisoning the reservoir feeding DC and sending serin gas into the air-conditioning of the DC subway are on their agenda, followed by the assassinations of bigwigs in government. If captured they have cyanide pills to avoid interrogation. The CIA, FBI and Homeland Security are involved in both cases, as is Detective Cross.
Not quite a third plot is that the Cross family _ himself, wife, son, grandmother _ has taken in a little girl while adoptive parents are being sought for her. However, everybody but Alex wants to keep the little darling. Can he be persuaded to go along? Need I ask?
Kidnapped from the school, it becomes apparent that a member of staff has it in for the chief executive. Aware that Cross is onto him, he vows to kill him. Saving the kids, saving the country, saving the foundling aren't too much to expect from Alex Cross. All in a day's work, you might say.
ROGUE FORCES by Dale Brown 401 pp, 2011 Corsair paperback. Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops, 325 baht
Give 'em a break
The world being what it is, ethnic groups are widespread. Would they prefer living in the same country? Not necessarily. Jinnah thought they would, only to learn that when Pakistan was created, tens of millions of Muslims preferred to remain in Hindu India. More Jews live abroad than in Israel. Then again, what if they desire a homeland but can't have it?
Cases in point are the Kurds, spread from Syria to Turkey, Iran to Iraq. Their nationalists would like a slice of land from each. Joined together, the result would be Kurdistan. But it's not going to happen. Nations aren't noted for willingly giving up part of their sacred soil to support such aspirations.
Saddened but not discouraged by their lack of sympathy, the Kurds take to prodding them in turn so that their presence not be overlooked. Lives are lost in border raids. Retaliation has been harsh. Saddam Hussein while in power in Iraq bombed the Kurds. The Turks have sent their formidable forces against them.
In Rogue Forces, American author Dale Brown has Washington trying to stop Ankara from invading neighbouring Iraq and smashing its Kurds once and for all. But how can the US accomplish this short of declaring war? A military coup in Turkey put the firebrands in the saddle. They reject negotiations out of hand.
A former US Air Force captain, Brown's novels are noted for their simulated wars with the latest weaponry. All are factual. Pages are devoted to what they do when fired from ships and shoulders, planes and drones. From missiles to ray guns. The problem here is that Turkey also has and knows how to use them.
The twist in the plot is that while the President is reluctant to enter into a full-scale conflict _ Afghanistan and Iraq are still to be pacified _ the previous occupant of the Oval Office has secretly formed an elite army to do the tasks the Pentagon is kept from doing. They take on the Turks in their stride.
The author's attitude toward the Kurds is ambiguous. A kind of however irritating they are, give 'em a break. Rouge Forces is his 22nd work of fiction. So detailed and thrilling are his made-up conflicts, this reviewer would like to see him devote at least one book to an actual battle. Just a thought.
