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An exhilarating,
page-turning read
‘Second chances’, by Chris Morris. Pp194. Price £3.49.
Published in electronic format
 Chris Morris’s novel, a bioterrorism thriller, is an exhilarating,
page-turning read. The post 9/11 environment has created a wealth of
material to be mined for fiction.
In this novel, the writer uses a mixture of science and politics to provide
the thrills and twists in the plot of this compelling story. The story
begins quietly, in 1972, on the premises of a company called Intel-Tec.
Soon, however, it emerges that this company is a cover for the production
of a lethal biological weapon. A fast forward to the present day brings
the reader to a town in Nebraska where most of the population has rapidly
succumbed to a strange illness. The town doctor is at a loss to diagnose
it and by the time the US Army Medical Division rolls into town, every
man, woman and child is dead.
The novel’s central character is 36-year old Jack Stanton, an agent
for a new, secret anti-terrorist group and a specialist in electronics
and explosives. Jack is proud to have served his country as a Navy SEAL
(the elite special operations force employed in counter-terrorism, unconventional
warfare and special
reconnaissance operations). He distinguished himself in Desert Storm
but is something of a disappointment to his father, a “cop”,
who hoped Jack would follow in his footsteps and do well enough to be
recruited by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The love of his life
was his wife Maria who, three years into their marriage, died a slow
death from cancer and since then Jack has thrown himself into his work.
Just as Jack is hoping for his first holiday in months, a new assignment
comes his way. He must track down the cause of the deaths in Nebraska:
the most lethal biological weapon ever made. He flies to Oklahoma to
meet scientist Andre Robideaux and the pair follow the trail together
to Salt Lake City where they meet Jane, the daughter of one of Andre’s
old colleagues. Soon, she makes Jack realise there is something missing
in his life, but he feels he cannot afford to let love get in the way
of his assignment.
The plot unfolds in the US, England, Paris and Sao Paulo, never slackening
its pace, and there are some great moments of humour. I am no expert
on biological terrorism, but the book seems well researched with complex
technical detail woven into the narrative. At every point on the trail,
the author draws in an ever larger cast of characters: largely convincing
and the “goodies” mostly likeable. Jack is certainly likeable
in his ability to question his motivation and his concern about having
to do questionable things, not to mention his love for big greasy fry-ups.
You cannot help but care what happens to him. By the end of the novel,
the mysteries are
resolved and answers satisfactorily given but the final revelations are
unexpected.
‘Second chances’ is Mr Morris’s second novel. In the
face of the huge difficulties
involved in attracting a mainstream publisher, he has published both
novels electronically and both were short listed in the Undiscovered
Authors Competition of 2005. Mr Morris works full-time as a pharmacist
and I was surprised to learn that it took him only a year to write ‘Second
chances’. I wish him well with his next story.
Pamela Mason (a freelance writer and novelist)
An enjoyable read for the holiday season
‘The white games’, by Chris Brewer. Pp305. Price £17.50.
Lulu.com; 2006. ISBN 978 1 4116 4224 9.
In outlining the plot of this novel — the work of a pharmacist — one
could do worse that to quote the book’s cover blurb: “After
a catastrophic doping scandal wrecks the 2012 London Olympics, international
athletics is seen as nothing more than a
marketing operation for drug companies. However, a wealthy ex-sportsman
thinks that he has a formula to revitalise public interest in elite competition.
With the world looking on, 320 athletes are gathered to clash in a unique
environment beyond the reach of any outside interference. But during
the training for the so-called ‘White Games’, four diverse
characters find themselves embroiled in an audacious conspiracy. Supported
by the author’s expert knowledge, ‘The white games’ provides a compelling yet disturbing vision of a future that may be closer
than we think.”
The idea behind the book is intriguing. I found the twists and turns
of the plot a
delight to follow and enjoyed the cynical twist at the end. The text
paints a clear picture of the location in which the story takes place.
However, despite plenty of dialogue, the main characters do not emerge
with
particularly distinct personalities.
I like the author’s uncomplicated writing style and the way he
uses his professional knowledge sparingly rather than beat the reader
about the head with it. The knowledge he has used suggests that he works
either in the hospital sector or in the pharmaceutical industry — but
I suspect the former, since the book is not exactly complimentary about
the activities of drug manufacturers.
As with most books of its genre, some aspects of the plot begin to look
a little absurd under close examination. For example, why is there a
clandestine system of urinalysis when in a supposed drug-free environment
the athletes would surely have no suspicions about being openly asked
for urine samples?
My one disappointment is that, rather than being properly proofread,
the text has merely been walloped through a spellchecking routine, which
has failed to spot missing words (“it was funny thing”),
superfluous words (“he and stepped across”), wrong words
(“had just got of the monorail”; “she’s to embarrassed”; “a
three-way dual”), missing apostrophes (“his girlfriends cat”)
and grocers’ apostrophes (“the onlooker’s descended
on the three of them”).
Traditional publishing houses employ skilled editors who, among other
things, understand the difference between the verbs to lie and to lay,
know how to spell Filipino and can ensure that a book uses British English
or American English but not a mixture of the two. But self-published
books such as this rarely go through a proper editing process, and it
shows.
Having forked out the better part of £20, the reader should not
expect to find the flow of the text disrupted by a multiplicity of silly
errors. At one point, my reading was brought to a complete halt by the
spellchecker-proof expression “chez lounge”. After a second
or two I realised that “chaise-longue” was
intended.
But, these niggles apart, I would recommend the book as an enjoyable
read for the holiday season and I look forward to Mr Brewer’s next
volume.
Andrew Haynes (deputy editor of The Pharmaceutical Journal) |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal