Trader of Secrets
by Steve Martini
(William Morrow 2011)
Successful thriller writers have their own idiosyncratic recipe of characters, plot, background, violence, romance, complication, nuance, and readability. As a newbie thriller writer, I find the process of reading and thinking about construction mechanics to be a continuous learning process, especially as I try to unearth my own voice.
Steve Martini combines current global issues with his own imagination of horrific catastrophes that could be on the horizon for all of us.
In Trader of Secrets, we are treated to one of Martini’s favorite characters, Paul Madriani and his supporting team, including his daughter Sarah. The story begins with the protagonist Liquida (a Mexican killer for hire, whose specialty is stiletto knives that can carve a target up like sushi) attacking Sarah as she is running off the reservation with her Doberman Bugsy. She survives, or it would have been a short story.
NASA scientists have sold secrets to Liquida’s employer, which ultimately is Iran. The top secret technology involves the ability to steer asteroids around space, or into the United States. If successful, such a plan could cause a solid iron mass to destroy North America, making us as extinct as dinosaurs from an earlier age.
There are double and triple agents scattered through the story, to add challenge to the FBI and other agencies in solving the mess. The White House has fumbled the secrets, endangering us all, of course without admitting anything to the exposed public. Madriani is put out as bait in hunt for Liquida. Of course, he and his team are not simply passive appetizers, so they launch off to Bangkok, Paris, and elsewhere in the world in search of the wily, murderous Liquida. They all come together in the jungle, complete with an angry Doberman and hungry crocodiles.
Could this underlying story be real? Is it possible that asteroids can be steered and targeted?
Trader of Secrets is an enjoyable and satisfying read. You are part of the action, though you need to be patient as the pieces are set in place. Steve Martini deserves the accolades bestowed upon the joyful quality of his writing. I read Trader of Secrets on a flight to Tokyo, reflecting how engaged I became.
I look forward to seeing Madriani handle the dismantling of Iran in the next story, perhaps through regime change in Syria, which becomes the means of neutralizing the Ayatollahs.
Warms, Cym
AMAZON
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