Review – Hand of Fate

Jim Fate, controversial Portland, Oregon radio host “pulled the red string tab on the envelope” with three minutes air time left, unaware of his open mike. A copy of Talk Radio fell onto his lap and a peculiar hissing sound spread through the broadcast booth. His vision blurred as he felt tight bands compress his chest.

The envelope’s deadly container of gas had sprayed directly into Fate’s face. Although he couldn’t stop his first lethal breath, he refused to take another! With clamped lips he held his nose with one hand and tore the headphones from his ears with the other, before he pounded on the broadcast booth’s window.

Then he grabbed his shirttail and held it against his mouth, before he punched the “talk” button and mumbled through clenched teeth, “sarin…911….” to fellow workers, unaware he broadcast it to his audience over the open mike. He could hold his breath for two minutes. Would that be enough? In seconds, his last thought was of Seattle’s bungled terrorist attack three weeks ago. An attack that killed 58 people with deadly sarin gas before it could be contained.

Add murder, biological terrorism, city-wide panic, and evacuations that clog buildings, streets and freeways and the chiller plot thickens with federal prosecutor, Allison Pierce, FBI special agent Nic Hedges and TV crime reporter Cassidy Shaw in the thick of it. In a well-done story where fiction imitates life, as it did in Talk Radio, a movie portrayal of the life and assassination of Alan Berg, nationally known Denver radio host.

Join these gorgeous ladies, bonded by high school friendships and chocolate desserts, in an intense thriller, bound by nerve-racking personal tensions, drama and suspense. With behind the scenes insights about radio and television production, the author’s staggering portrayal of the power of suggestion that causes hysteria, crisis and mass panic is riveting and all too real. But, best of all, the book is an excellent thriller without explicit sexual content and cursing.

Strong female leads complement one another. Yet, personal issues of domestic abuse, rape and prescription drug addiction slow the narrative pace and take the focus off the killer in the last half of the book, but the shock ending makes up for it. Faith and love play important roles in the story and knit well into the narrative without being intrusive. Short chapters keep the story moving to a surprising ending that left me saying, “Sure didn’t see that one coming.” Readers won’t be disappointed in the riveting characterizations and chilling true-to-life plot, however, I would have liked less time spent on personal crusades.

Lis Wiehl, Fox News legal analyst-commentator, Harvard Law School graduate and federal prosecutor, unites with co-author April Henry, Oregon’s prestigious mystery writer who is short-listed for the Agatha, Anthony and Oregon Book Awards.