The first two chapters of Will Staeger’s PUBLIC ENEMY fairly burst off the page in cinematic thriller glory. We are treated to an American suicide bomber and a Coast Guard interdiction that goes spectacularly wrong, resulting in six deaths. Better catch your breath while you can, because it gets even more hairy and exciting through the rest of the book’s length, which clocks in at a whopping 467 pages.
The suicide bomber deliberately has let a miniscule amount of a filovirus into the air after he has blown himself up. This virus – an intensely contagious nasty thing that causes hemorrhagic fever and ultimately death – has been genetically engineered to resist vaccination. Before the authorities can quarantine the area, the virus causes a dozen or so deaths of people near the blast.
But what’s really disturbing is the realization that this guy wasn’t alone. There may be an army of sleeper terrorists out there willing to blow themselves up and infect the entire United States population, all for some perceived wrong.
Agent Julie Laramie is assigned to the case, and of course, she has to bring along W. Cooper, the irascible but talented CIA assassin who takes no bull from anyone, least of all Julie. They were teamed up in Staeger’s debut novel, PAINKILLER, and the erotic tension continues into this new book as well.
As Laramie and Cooper assemble their team, they realize that the first suicide bomber actually left a message for them: a message about how to find the other sleeper terrorists. And now it’s a race against time and the fanaticism of the deeply committed terrorists, in order to save as many people as possible from dying a horrible death.
There are some odd moments in Staeger’s prose; discussion of a landlocked Caribbean island, strangely cheap financial accounting for one of Castro’s endeavors, and the sheer unlikelihood of how one terrorist decides to send a message to the authorities all come to mind. But you almost don’t care, because the pace of the novel is so furious, the action so gripping and the characters so strong, that you’re just dragged along by the hand and forced to read it, dammit.
Cooper is a great anti-hero: cynical, abrasive, but good in the clutch. Laramie is smart and resourceful and just edgy enough to avoid stereotyping as the sexual interest. The two characters combine to make a powerful whole, and Staeger uses them well in set pieces that would look great on the silver screen.
This is pure, unadulterated thriller fun – a long read, but worth every page. Recommended. –Mark Rose
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