Review: Insights of a Blind Woman
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 25, 2014
“The Pelindaba Conspiracy” by Cliff Happy is another in his series of stories about the rogue assassin group “Friends from Damascus” who, outside the boundaries and constraints of any country or intelligence bureau, take things into their own hands to rid the world of really, really bad guys.  In this one Mr. Happy focuses on two of the “Damascus” group: Alaleh, the blind computer whiz originally from Iran, and Gideon, the former Mossad operative from Israel. Yes, they’re an odd love-match if there ever was one. But somehow, as do all of Happy’s stories, far-fetched plots, and unlikely pairings, it works.Though getting to be formulaic, the Friends of Damascus series are nonetheless all good stories, and this one is no exception. And as usual, the author takes the reader to exotic and dangerous venues, this one starting in South Africa, a big interlude in Lebanon, then Munich, and finishing in Southern California. It’s all about some stolen hot atomic weaponry and the danger the bad guys who stole it pose to the West.The characters are all unique and special in their own way. With the blind Alaleh, we are treated to her priceless contribution to finding the bad guys and the hot atomic material. The team tracks them through two episodes of engagement, until – of course – winning out in the end, despite some battle scars, moderate wounds, and mistakes. They are the Super-Duper-People of high technology, and almost all the time it works for them. But for the internet and their skill at hacking, the stories would be nowhere fast. And we never find out who finances their elaborate and secret undertakings, or what national entity may really be behind them.As I’ve read most of these stories, now, it’s more and more obvious that Mr. Happy has found a workable formula, and as such, the stories become a little predictable and more and more so-so with each one. And, the characters are all so stereotypically heterosexual as to be not exactly examples of real world people, though I must commend Mr. Happy for sparing us any and all sexual activity. But, it’s fiction, and Mr. Happy can write his stories any way he likes. As this one wore on, it got harder and harder to pick up, though the final chapter (near San Diego) was exciting.  Mr. Happy doesn’t dwell on happy endings, necessarily, as we learned in one of the stories, and these characters are indeed monumentally forgettable.Yet, I give it a 3.60 on Amazon’s scale, rounded up to a 4.