- Walsh, Michael.
Early Warning.
New York: Pinnacle Books, 2010.
ISBN 978-0-7860-2043-0.
-
This is the second novel in the author's “Devlin”
series of thrillers. When I read the first,
Hostile Intent, I described it
as a “tangled, muddled mess” and concluded that the author
“may eventually master the thriller, but I doubt I'll read any
of the sequels to find out for myself”. Well, I did
go ahead and read the next book in the series, and I'm
pleased to report that the versatile and accomplished author
(see the review of Hostile Intent for
a brief biography and summary of his other work) has indeed
now mastered the genre and this novel is as tightly plotted, action
packed, and bristling with detail as the work of
Vince Flynn and
Brad Thor.
In this novel, renegade billionaire Emanuel Skorzeny, after having
escaped justice for the depredations he unleashed in the previous
novel, has been reduced to hiding out in jurisdictions which
have no extradition treaty with the United States. NSA covert
agent “Devlin” is on his trail when a coordinated
series of terrorist attacks strike New York City. Feckless
U.S. President Jeb Tyler decides to leave New York's police
Counter-Terrorism Unit (CTU) to fend for itself to avoid the
débâcle being laid at his feet, but allows
Devlin to be sent in covertly to track down and take out
the malefactors. Devlin assumes his “angel of death”
persona and goes to work, eventually becoming also the
guardian angel of the head of CTU, old school second generation
Irish cop Francis Xavier Byrne.
Devlin and the CTU eventually help the perpetrators achieve
the martyrdom to which they aspire, but not before massive damage is
inflicted upon the city and one terrorist goal accomplished
which may cause even more in the future. How this fits into
Skorzeny's evil schemes still remains to be discovered, as
the mastermind's plot seems to involve not only mayhem on
the streets of Manhattan but also the Higgs boson.
The action and intrigue are leavened by excursions into
cryptography (did you know about the
Poe Cryptographic Challenge?),
the music of
Edward Elgar,
and Devlin's developing relationship with the
enigmatic Iranian expatriate “Maryam”. This is
an entertaining and satisfying thriller, and I'm planning
to read the next episode,
Shock Warning,
in due time.
January 2012 