Full of tainted drugs, helicopter forays and speeding bullets, Lethal Agent (2005, Signet, 386 pages), a second novel by Stan Johnson, takes a frightening terrorism plot and flies with it. This military-spy thriller sometimes excites, but often disappoints. It's one more save-the-world story in bookshops bulging with them.
Protagonist Aaron Korda, a consultant for America's Central Intelligence Agency, has lots of luck. At first, it's mainly bad luck, starting with the death of a friend, Turkish Army captain Kemal Bulot, on an anti-terrorism raid in Central Asia.
Perhaps unwisely, Aaron approaches a select group of Turkish soldiers to suggest another raid: “We are going to find the men who murdered Kemal and bring them to justice…. We are going to kill them.”
Initially, this plan appears successful, but then “all hell” breaks loose. Iraqi villains, already angered by the American habit of invading their country, employ their own bloody means to even scores.
Luckily for Aaron, some capable people risk their lives to help and protect him. They include a long-lost girlfriend, Krissi Sturm, now a German spy, and Aaron’s brother Martin, an elite American soldier.
Meanwhile, cunning terrorists have tampered with the pharmaceutical industry. Soon common medicines laced with “an enhanced form of botulinum-A, the most deadly toxin known to man”, may kill millions of people unless someone learns the truth and foils the diabolical scheme.
“Faramaz's delivery system for the botulinum-A toxin was ingenious. The concept of sabotaging Western medical supplies and using the pharmaceutical companies themselves to disseminate the lethal biological agent, bringing terror into the homes of the infidels, was brilliant.”
Some scenes and dialogue lack realism. They're too contrived.
“ ‘Where do we go from here?’ Aaron asked.
‘Christ, Aaron, those bastards were going to blow my head off,’ she said, not answering his question. A large tear welled in her eye and streamed down her cheek. She brushed it away angrily….”
But the biggest annoyance is a certain arrogance that oozes between the lines. Johnson depicts the Middle East as a dangerous region full of misguided fanatics keen to assail the United Sates. Yet by some misguided logic, American soldiers are justified to launch their own deadly and destructive covert raids wherever they deem necessary. This blatant double standard should infuriate many readers.
The author, a former soldier turned lawyer, has reached partner status at a New York law firm. His first book, Once a Ranger, appeared in 2003.
In the United States, journalists and authors like to depict their nation's soldiers as heroic defenders. By all indications, Johnson intended Lethal Agent in the same vein. But for non-American readers, the book unwittingly delivers a contrary message: that from the viewpoint and experiences of many people in the Middle East and elsewhere, American soldiers often behave like terrorists too.
Approval rating: 52 per cent
(December 29, 2009)
ARCHIVES
|
Stan Johnson:
military thrillers.
|
