{"id":6332,"date":"2017-01-16T07:48:47","date_gmt":"2017-01-16T12:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6332"},"modified":"2017-01-16T08:11:23","modified_gmt":"2017-01-16T13:11:23","slug":"burning-bright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=6332","title":{"rendered":"*****Burning Bright"},"content":{"rendered":"
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photo: Kevan, creative commons license<\/p><\/div>\n

By Nick Petrie – Petrie\u2019s debut thriller, The Drifter<\/em><\/a>, was a 2016 favorite. In these novels, Petrie\u2019s protagonist, Peter Ash, is a veteran Marine lieutenant who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. His war experience left him with a form of post-traumatic stress disorder that he calls \u201cthe static,\u201d and it starts up whenever he\u2019s in a confined space\u2014indoors, for example\u2014threatening to bloom into a full-blown panic.<\/p>\n

For that reason, he\u2019s spent a lot of time tromping around the deep forests of the northwest United States, living in a tent, trying to convince himself no one is shooting at him. Unfortunately, in this book, someone is.<\/p>\n

When he climbs a young redwood tree to escape a rampaging bear, he discovers he\u2019s not the first or the only one hiding out up there. Following a trail of ropes, he finds a woman with a bow and arrow, the arrow aimed at his heart. (Hits it, too, but not in the literal sense.) The sound of automatic weapons on the ground tells them they need to fly. Their escape through the treetops, thirty stories up and above the forest fog is pure excitement. And that powerful opening just begins their non-stop adventure.<\/p>\n

The woman, June Cassidy, is on the run. Her mother\u2014an artificial intelligence researcher at Stanford University\u2014was killed by a hit-and-run driver, all the contents of her office were carried away in the middle of the night by \u201cgovernment\u201d heavies, who later tried to kidnap Cassidy. Her mother has developed an algorithm to penetrate secure networks called Tyg3r, and quite a few determined folks think now Cassidy has it.<\/p>\n

Cassidy wants to know who killed her mother. Ash\u2019s interest is in Cassidy, and he wants to use his considerable tactical and physical skills to protect her. In a recent essay about thriller superheroes, London Review of Books<\/em> editor John Lanchester described his Superman Test for plausibility<\/a>: \u201cIs what I\u2019m being asked to believe less likely than the character\u2019s being able to fly?\u201d<\/p>\n

Somehow, Petrie\u2019s depiction of Ash and his actions would pass that test. In part that\u2019s because the author is meticulous about explaining how Ash and Cassidy do what they do. Whether you understand all those rope climbing terms or not, the details are utterly convincing.<\/p>\n

At the same time, it seems less believable that multiple teams of heavily armed pseudo-governmental agents are driving around in phalanxes of black Ford Explorers. Yet, Ash needs a significant foe, and there\u2019s a high-tech prize of inestimable value here. Perhaps it makes sense that considerable human and firepower resources are focused on acquiring it.<\/p>\n

Though heavily overmatched, Ash and Cassidy are not without resources of their own. In addition to their personal skills, Ash calls on some a few pals, including one from The Drifter<\/em>, Lewis: genius investor, crack shot, awesome sense of humor. Banter between Cassidy and Ash is pretty genuine and entertaining too.<\/p>\n

The Northern California and Seattle-area settings are refreshing and full of possibility for the kind of mental isolation that breeds paranoia. And there\u2019s plenty of it in this novel, given the game-changing significance of the technologies it explores. As Petrie says in an author\u2019s note, \u201clarge institutions, both public and private, operate with few controls in a fast-changing environment. For some reason, I don\u2019t find this entirely comforting.\u201d Nor will you.
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