Review: A Well-Written Taut Piece that Will Keep You Reading
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 12, 2012
Desert SongLet's step back about a dozen years -- just after 9/11 -- when a new crime rocks the world. It's not the typical bank robbery or major theft, but a crime of the worst kind, a crime of the soul. Now, meet Matt Slater, FBI Agent, psychologist and author who understands the crime paradigm, where religious zealotry is the driving force. He is sent to Saudi Arabia to work on the brutal murders of a young couple on the way to Dahran where there son is taken and another young couple in Dubai where there young daughter is taken. Working through the many layers of bureaucracy, Slater soon finds an even more sinister plot against the West.Slater, called away from a book tour of college campuses where he discusses the new crime paradigm, even tells audiences he is a target, too, and then laughs it off, is the expert. Working through layers of officialdom and society, he finds what he the "reverse pyramid" where millions of followers shield the one man who is setting the agenda. The murders are much more than opportunistic "crimes of place or passion" as they are really crimes of hate where, Slater finds, at the bottom, a sinister plot to kidnap Western children and build them into an army of believers who would ruin homes, killing thousands without a second thought, all the while, protecting their sinister leader.Matt gets to the bottom of things, but not without his share of hair-raising near-misses and other bits that I won't reveal here. Narendra Simone has written this as the first part of a the Matt Slater trilogy, which implies an ending to Matt. I really hope not because Slater is a character whose development can be chameleon-like. There are many ways to take Slater from lawman to Narendra Simone, already an established author who not only has a feel for his characters, but their surroundings and the yarn he is spinning, you will want to read the other two after "Desert Song."As an author, Simone has a command of language, characterization, plotting and twisting the plot around that will keep you turning your Kindle pages just to see what happens next. It's a good thing night lights were invented for Kindles and other readers because you just won't be able to put this down.Simone, whose descriptions can send shivvers down your spine or just relax you, is a master story-teller who is on his way to a great career.