The new arch villain is Artemis Bourne, clothed in the respectability that billions of dollars of assets usually generates. A friend to presidents and congressmen, he has garnered control of the economy of 22 foreign countries and is still building.

To that end, he purchased a biochemical factory in Africa and began his experimentation in the creation of weapons grade viruses. They are described as “chimera” viruses, which represent a splice of an Ebola type with a smallpox virus. Allegedly, in the interest of science, experimentation on populations had occurred within Africa to determine the effectiveness of his products.

The novel begins as Bourne opens a shipment from Africa of what he thought would be a vial of one of these viruses. Instead he finds three severed heads. He is able to identify the heads as belonging to the scientist who developed the current virus, and the other two, as persons who had tested the virus on humans.

It is not apparent to the reader at this point who is responsible for this act of vengeance, but Bourne veers off on a quest for Elizabeth Stride, an assassin who had been reported dead some years before. Bourne offers to trade information with Clew, a highly placed operative in some Secret Service adjunct of the U.S. His exchange: information on a vessel in transit off the coast of Africa carrying weapons and enslaved young girls for the location of Elizabeth Stride.

The exchange is made and a new cast of characters is introduced in the persons of those who capture the vessel. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is indeed alive, having retired to Hilton Head Island. She has gathered a collection of friends, amongst them, many female Muslims who have sought refuge there. Elizabeth is making a life but still mourns the operative Martin Kessler, who apparently had met his demise in a prior book.

Elizabeth is found, the trawler is stopped, and nonstop action ensues. One must suspend disbelief for most of the rest of the book’s action scenes. And since it is fiction, why not?

However, why must one suspend it on all fronts? Artemis Bourne, the sociopathic villain to transcend all villains does not ring true. The author uses interior dialogue as his device to transmit Bourne’s personality, and the result is that Bourne becomes a buffoon but is portrayed as a villain. His dialogue is rarely credible, and very often out of voice, which furthers his mischaracterization.

Portraying one character by interior dialogue is sometimes risky but Maxim does it with everyone. I realize that it is only the current fashion trend to tell stories in the present tense with flashbacks in the past tense, and it certainly is not necessary for every author to follow this trend. However, Maxim appears to avoid using the present tense as often as possible, and overuses the subjunctive voice in the interior monologues, resulting in many choppy passages that make the entire book an awkward read.

The plot is essentially a simple one, and probably super topical in today’s world. However, again the author goes for the overkill, making everything complex to the extreme. Also, I am not certain whether or not the introduction of the paranormal in this story was done as spoof, or to counterbalance the abject horror of bioterrorism. For all of these reasons, this novel did not work for me at any level.

--Thea Davis