Irving Wallace. The Almighty. Mastermind Books. Vasan Publications. Bangalore.

Irving Wallace. The Almighty. Mastermind Books. Vasan Publications. Bangalore.

The mind is a strange thing – it makes success and power more attractive than love; it makes terrorism the weapon of those aspiring to be ‘God’. It makes Edward Armstead, suffering from imagined childhood repression and suppression consider himself the ‘Almighty’. He is not only a publisher of news, but also a creator of news – he makes conspiracies happen and he reports them as exclusives in his newspaper ‘Record’.

The book has conspiracy, crime, corruption and misplaced ambition of Armstead against the fresh-faced innocence of the young Victoria. The story races ahead explosively as Vicky and Nick combat the shadowy Armstead. There is action aplenty in the story. There are details about publishing that are well researched and combined in the narrative in an interesting manner.

The book is good for armchair reading in the comfort of one’s own home or in the midst of crowds at lounges in airports, hotels or in the plush coziness of one’s own bed.

Primal Fear. William Diehl.1993. Gunn Productions Inc. ISBN 0 345 38391 5

Martin Vail, the lawyer with incisive legal skills sharp enough to dissect a case down to its marrow is the most noticeable character in this novel. His courtroom skills are also perfect, reminiscent of Perry Mason’s. Venable, the State Prosecutor is his opponent who has to prove her worth atleast this time having lost to Vail on two previous occasions while fighting out legal battles in the courtroom. The two meet again to prove Aaron Stampler guilty or innocent. Embroiled in their face-off is Aaron Stampler’s alter ego, Roy, an aggressive boy who is a manifest of Stampler’s schizophrenic attacks. The trigger is sexual repression and sexual liberation at a very early age due to sexual exploitation in childhood by two priests and a teacher. (Nothing seems sacred to Diehl). Aaron’s guilt is proved, yet Vail proves that he is innocent of the crime since it is carried out by his alter ego.
The climax is tight and brisk – one moves back and forth between the two identities of Stampler with a sense of fear.
The primal fear is – Aaron is not Roy, Roy is Aaron.
Aren’t all human beings a wee bit schizophrenic? Martin Vail, Molly, Shoaty, Goodman? You? Me?

Next. Michael Crichton. London: Harper-Collins Publishers. 2006. ISBN 13 9780 00 7248995

Next. Michael Crichton. London: Harper-Collins Publishers. 2006. ISBN 13 9780 00 7248995

Those who see in Genetic Engineering the miracle of God through the hand of man, beware! Crichton’s novel, ‘Next’ is a blend of fact and alarming fiction that throws up possibilities of a genetically engineered living organism becoming a threat to the very moral fibre of society.

The novel is technically supported by research into the study of genes: a master gene to control other people, transgenic pets such as Giant cockroaches, permanent puppies, genetic cures for drug addiction and more such bizarre realities of the future in the realm of genetic engineering. There is also Duke, the talking chimpanzee and Gerard the parrot with uncanny human intelligence to think and feel – the prospects seem cute at first, but gradually become threatening.

The ruthless chase of the Burnetts who are pursued across the country for their cells patented by BioGen , a company which claims ownership of all future generations of Burnetts is a little creepy.

The role of universities in generating mindless research into human genomes is also highlighted in the novel. The Oxnard Judge puts an end to all such degenerative activities by ruling out the case against the Burnetts by proclaiming, “Our bodies are our individual property. In a sense, bodily ownership is the most fundamental kind of ownership we know. It is the core of our being”. That, ultimately, is what the book is about.

Patenting of genes, guidelines for the use of human tissues and the right to information on data about gene testing are dealt with in the most exciting, tense and racy style. Making the right choice in using Genetic Engineering is in our hands.

Crichton only tells us what will happen if we do not use our moral discretion.

Ken Follet. The Third Twin. London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0333 66809

Cloning can be an exciting concept not only for scientists but also for writers.

Follett explores the possibility of eight clones each of whom has an eccentricity of a very serious nature. One is a rapist, one a conman, one a sadist and yet another is a normal young man.

Caught in the lives of these eight men is a young Professor researching twins to find if it is ‘nurture or nature’ that shapes the lives of such twins. She unearths a plot to draw her into a web of deceit and corruption by the University president and the trust that funds the university. How she clears the names of one of the eight and her own is what Follett has attempted in a story that keeps you reading with intense interest one moment and dozing off another.

The book was a good sedative for me. You know, that intense sense of participation in the story by the reader is missing. Yet, it has its own graces – the revelation of the sense of fear and shame in a rapist’s victim and the unscrupulous world of academics, scientists and trusts in creating monsters of science without a tinge of conscience.

Wilbur Smith – The Quest

A story that accelerates from the beginning and slows down gently to a feel-good type of stop, The Quest is the past of Egypt with all its mystical allurement and secrets of Gods.

Taita, the Eunuch with secret longings and the wisdom of hundreds of years of his life and Fenn, the re-incarnation of a queen of Smith’s earlier novel fill the pages with their pure love for each other and a dare-devil love of adventure.

The two endeavour to find the root cause of the drying of the eternally flowing River Nile, the sacred river of the Egyptians. They cross thousands of miles and find that a cataclysmic volcanic activity attributed to the evil Eos has been responsible for the mysterious disappearance. The witchcraft of the ancient Egyptians is brought out through Eos who sucks the wisdom of seers and encourages her vassals to experiment on genetic engineering using foetuses, which is called ‘ infant eating’ by the natives.

We move with Taita’s select band of men and women warriors and share the sense of excitement as they move across the distances, braving swamps, tsetse flies, barbaric cannibals and the magic of Eos all the time percolating through the senses.

I suspect that there is an allegory hidden somewhere in the storyline, but as long as I don’t examine the literary aspect, the story lifts the veil of time over the past of Egypt and reveals intriguing aspects 9albeit imagined0 of the lives of people in ancient Egypt.

It is a quest to attain immortality, for Taita and Fenn; it is a quest to understand the ethos of an Egypt which is strange mix of science cloaked in and magic mystifying science.

A good read for two to three days.

Nelson De Mille : Cathedral. 1981. Grafton Books.: London. ISBN 0-586-05160-0

Terrorism is not new to the world. The IRA made it a jihad of sorts – for independence and freedom from suppression. But, in the cause of its fight, it turned into a monster that fed on the flesh and blood of innocents and the hearts and souls of those that served it.

Nelson de Mille probes the psyche of terrorists through this ‘epic siege novel’. There’s Flynn, a driven and motivated activist, misguided though. There’s Maureen, a reformed IRA activist – reformed, because she realises that she is losing herself in the cause of something that only causes sadness and grief to all. There’s Hickey, a lunatic who is crazy enough to sacrifice all in the name of the IRA and writing a death wish for himself and others. There’s Burke, the NYPD officer understands the nuances of thoughts in the minds of these and attempts to bridge the law enforcement agencies and the terrorists to minimize loss of lives.

Linking them all is a story of a siege of the St.Patrick’s Cathedral in New York by the IRA. The careful plans, the maneuvers , the pain of failures leading to deaths and the spectre of violence that the siege causes are well crafted in this story. Nelson de Mille keeps one’s heart in one’s mouth. What unfurls before one’s eyes is the spectacular climax that is described with meticulous design.

Thank you de Mille for the hours of thrill and entertainment .