ngoldman

Review: The Wave of the Future



Posted: Tuesday, April 06, 2010

by ngoldman
Norm Goldman

Author: Duane De Mello

ISBN: 978-1-4392-6009-8



If you enjoy reading novels about terrorists, Duane De Mello's The Wave of the Future is a real doozy!

Drawing upon his impressive experience as a senior intelligence officer in the CIA, De Mello weaves a fascinating tale about a thirty-seven year old covert operative for the CIA, Mitch Vasari, who operates under deep commercial cover. Mitch was born of an Italian father and an Egyptian mother. His mother made sure that he learned Egyptian Arabic, as well has having respect and an understanding of the meaning of the Quran.

The story unfolds when Lee Denning, a case officer in the CIA's Stockholm Station informs Mitch that lately in Ireland there has been some interesting leads that offer potential against Islamist targets. Due to the inexperience of the case officers, they are limited in their actions against this kind of a target. Lee explains that one of their undercover recruits, a retired Irish police inspector, who owns a pub, has spotted someone he has known for several years- thirty-one year old Padraig Cahill. Cahill comes from a family with an Irish Republican Army background. Mitch is asked to contact Cahill and try to have him penetrate a radical Islamic terrorist group and in turn provide some useful information. Although, the Islamist terrorist groups and the IRA have a profound hatred of the British, Mitch and his CIA cohorts are under no illusion that Patrick would easily become an actual actively accepted member of such a group. Would he be able to have access to some very valuable information?

Mitch realizes that this not going to be an easy task, particularly that the British and Irish intelligence services were not to be part of the operation. In his favor, however, was that radical Islamist terrorist groups were using more frequently Europeans to carry out their vicious and horrendous attacks, and even in some cases permitting them to participate directly in the attacks.

At the same time Mitch pursues his relationship with Patrick, Dr. Abdul-Karim bin Ahmad, a Pakistani physician, working in the emergency room at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, is in the process of putting together a team of fanatical terrorists to carry out a jihad against the British and the Americans that will cause the death of thousands of people. His targets are a British plant that was involved in the waste produced by a nuclear power plant and the Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. This would involve the assembling of four dedicated Muslim brothers, as well as a disaffected Scot or an Irishman, who has long held grudges against the English. While Mitch is cultivating a trusting relationship with Cahill, Dr. Ahmad simultaneously is recruiting the latter into his team of murderers assigning him the task of procuring ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, leasing a house and renting a truck. All of this sounds like the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

Unfortunately, when all seems to be nicely coming together for Mitch, matters go terribly wrong and his plan is completely blown up- resulting in some very disastrous consequences. From here on end it becomes a race against time in order to prevent an incredulous calamity. And this is where the tension in the story basically lies.

While all of this may sound like a routine thriller, there is nothing boring or predictable about The Wave of the Future. De Mello has crafted an impressive well-rounded debut novel. The terrifying plot is extremely intense that the reader is swept up and carried forward without so much as a hiccup. De Mello certainly knows his characters-how they think, how they act and interact. Moreover, his sharp skills as a story-teller results in a yarn that is impeccably paced without being rushed, and completely absorbing. As an added plus, readers are treated to an intriguing and realistic glimpse of the inner workings of the world of CIA covert operatives, which no doubt can be attributable to the author's involvement for many years as an uncover CIA agent. This is one novel that may keep you up long after you have put it to bed, thinking, could this really happen? Is this the wave of our future?

Click Here To Read Norm's Interview With Duane De Mello

Norm Goldman practiced law for over 35 years and this enabled him to transfer and apply to book reviewing his many skills that he had perfected during his career in the legal profession and as a result he has become a prolific free lance book reviewer & author interviewer.

He is the Editor, Publisher and Reviewer for his own site, Bookpleasures.com (http://www.bookpleasures.com) that he created in 2002.

The site is composed of an international community of book reviewers that come from all walks of life that review all genres of fiction and non-fiction.

In addition to the complimentary reviews bookpleasures.com offers, Norm personally offers his own Priority Book Review service that you can find out more about by clicking on:

http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/categories/Do-You-Need-A-Quick-Review-Of-Your-Book%3F/

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