{"id":5092,"date":"2015-12-09T07:32:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-09T12:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5092"},"modified":"2015-12-09T07:32:21","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T12:32:21","slug":"deceits-of-borneo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=5092","title":{"rendered":"***Deceits of Borneo"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(photo: ksobolev0, pixabay)<\/p><\/div>\n

By H.N. Wake <\/a>\u2013 This is the second full-length thriller by H.N. Wake and a repeat outing for her gutsy female protagonist, CIA Agent Mac Ambrose. (Read my interview with H.N. Wake<\/a> to find out what she loves about this character.) The action takes place in Hong Kong and various spots in Malaysia\u2014Kuala Lumpur, Miri, and the rain forests of Sarawak Province\u2014with occasional scenes back at the CIA mothership in Langley, Virginia. Wake\u2019s familiarity with Asia and Southeast Asia, gained during more than 20 years\u2019 working overseas for the U.S. government, stands her in good stead here, as the ease and detail with which she describes these lush locales effectively transport the reader right into the setting.<\/p>\n

Mac is deep under cover in Hong Kong, at a new job in the Risk Analysis department of a major international financial institution called Legion Bank, and her real identity is known only to one of the bank\u2019s executives. When another Non-Official Cover CIA agent\u2014Josh Halloway\u2014goes missing out of Kuala Lumpur, Mac\u2019s boss back in Langley tells her to find him.<\/p>\n

Gradually we learn her concern about Halloway\u2019s disappearance is not just collegial solidarity, it\u2019s also personal. Halloway is handsome, charming, and intriguing, and they\u2019d met and connected in Hong Kong. Mac was falling for him. The Bank provides cover for her search, when she\u2019s assigned to the risk appraisal of a potential Malaysian client, Alghaba Financing, a major player in Malaysia\u2019s timber and palm oil industries. If the bank takes the company on, it will receive millions of dollars in fees.<\/p>\n

Given the opportunity to kill two birds at once, Mac flies to the Malaysian capital. When she checks in with the U.S. Embassy, she finds the ambassador has a chip on his shoulder the size of a teak log and is unwilling to help her. Evidence on the ground is scant, but Mac picks up Halloway\u2019s trail, and the game is literally afoot in the jungles of Borneo. Wake\u2019s choice of a female protagonist with the investigatory skills, cunning, and physical courage to undertake her next steps make this a refreshing antidote to the overdose of testosterone in many thrillers.<\/p>\n

However, the goings-on back at Langley aren\u2019t as persuasive. They add complication and some coincidence that detract from the main story. Perhaps it\u2019s a reflection of how people in the field always regard the folks back at the main office: \u201cWhat are <\/em>they thinking?\u201d At times Mac\u2019s own behavior is a bit murky. She frequently presses a little too hard in trying to get information from a potential informant, and I never did figure out how she got the key to Josh\u2019s room at the Miri Beach Resort.<\/p>\n

What Mac discovers in the rain forest, the lengths people will go to keep her discovery a secret, and the fate of Josh Halloway are the key questions of this compelling story. Wake knows how to put together an exciting narrative, an exotic and interesting setting, and believable characters. H.N. Wake is an exciting new author worth tracking.<\/p>\n

A somewhat longer version of this review appeared on the Crime Fiction Lover<\/a> website.
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