A masterful tale that involves Neanderthals, espionage, and murder.
A techno-thriller focuses on a shocking archaeological discovery.
In this novel, which features a mix of genres, epochs, and life forms, Fundin takes readers on a vertigo-inducing trip from one corner of the globe to another. It takes a lot of ink to cover so much territory (mental and physical), but the book is so fast-paced that its 350-plus pages never get ponderous. The story opens during the Cold War in an East Berlin divided into politically opposed factions. Russian spy Igor Gerasim Klurov, a nuclear scientist and sergeant in the Strategic Space Forces, is perplexed when an anonymous driver picks him up at the airport and whisks him through the city streets as they head toward “the source of the secret.” What secret? That enigma swirls around a startling archaeological find: 40,000-year-old fossilized Neanderthal skeletons. Homo sapiens committed what is deemed to be the first genocide in history—the systematic extinction of the Neanderthals, with whom they shared the planet. Homo sapiens took over the world, but eventually they were threatened by vengeful neo-Neanderthals, determined to wipe them out. Modern-day scientists use the skeletons to map the Neanderthals’ genome, which poses a scientific and ethical dilemma: Should they be cloned? Thus begins a tumultuous mystery/thriller in ever changing locations and time periods as factions fight for control of the skeletons. Frightening covert medical research in a hospital, punctuated with murders and all manner of subterfuge, drives the well-crafted plot. With one unpredictable twist after another, things get even more complex when readers learn that many of the characters are not at all who they seem. Some have assumed false identities. The good guys are actually the bad guys—or are they? The book concludes with a philosophical and existential issue that is eerily reflective of today’s societal ills and encompasses the questionable future of humanity. Fundin’s skill in weaving seemingly unrelated elements into a cohesive, logical storyline makes for a novel that readers will quickly devour. Fans of Robin Cook and John le Carré will be spellbound.
A masterful tale that involves Neanderthals, espionage, and murder.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Asioni Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Expert, but unsurprising.
The death of an old friend who was more than a friend sends Dr. Kay Scarpetta down her latest rabbit hole.
If every body tells a story, the corpse of 7-year-old Luna Briley sings the blues. On top of the many signs of ongoing physical abuse, there’s the fatal gunshot wound to her head. Ryder and Piper Briley, the wealthy and powerful parents who didn’t call the police until after their daughter died, insist that Luna’s death was an accident, or maybe a suicide. Scarpetta doesn’t think so, and her refusal to release the body to the Brileys’ hand-picked mortician moves them to legal action against her as Virginia’s chief medical examiner. You’d think it would be a relief to put this case aside for another when Scarpetta’s niece, Secret Service agent Lucy Farinelli, calls her and ferries her by helicopter to an abandoned Oz theme park owned by Ryder Briley, but this one’s even more heartbreaking. Scarpetta is there to examine the body of astrophysicist Sal Giordano, her close friend and former lover, who was evidently kidnapped, held in captivity for several hours, and tossed out of an unidentified aircraft. The leading suspects are the Brileys; Carrie Grethen, Lucy’s sociopathic ex-lover, with whom Scarpetta has repeatedly tangled in the past; and the UFO that dumped Giordano’s body without leaving the usual traces for air-traffic technologies to pick up. The multiple rounds of physical examinations Scarpetta conducts on both victims are every bit as meticulous and gripping as fans would expect; the killer’s identity is neither surprising nor interesting, but Cornwell juggles her trademark forensics, and the paranormal hints she’s become increasingly invested in, more dexterously than usual.
Expert, but unsurprising.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781538770382
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
BOOK TO SCREEN
Intrigue, murder, and vengeance make for a darkly enjoyable read.
A woman’s life takes a stunning turn and a wall comes tumbling down in this tense Cold War spy drama.
In Berlin in 1989, the wall is about to crumble, and Anne Simpson’s husband, Stefan Koehler, goes missing. She is a translator working with refugees from the communist bloc, and he is a piano tuner who travels around Europe with orchestras. Or so he claims. German intelligence service the BND and America’s CIA bring her in for questioning, wrongly thinking she’s protecting him. Soon she begins to learn more about Stefan, whom she had met in the Netherlands a few years ago. She realizes he’s a “gregarious musician with easy charm who collected friends like a beachcomber collects shells, keeping a few, discarding most.” Police find his wallet in a canal and his prized zither in nearby bushes but not his body. Has he been murdered? What’s going on? And why does the BND care? If Stefan is alive, he’s in deep trouble, because he’s believed to be working for the Stasi. She’s told “the dead have a way of showing up. It is only the living who hide.” And she’s quite believable when she wonders, “Can you grieve for someone who betrayed you?” Smart and observant, she notes that the reaction by one of her interrogators is “as false as his toupee. Obvious, uncalled for, and easily put on.” Lurking behind the scenes is the Matchmaker, who specializes in finding women—“American. Divorced. Unhappy,” and possibly having access to Western secrets—who will fall for one of his Romeos. Anne is the perfect fit. “The matchmaker turned love into tradecraft,” a CIA agent tells her. But espionage is an amoral business where duty trumps decency, and “deploring the morality of spies is like deploring violence in boxers.” It’s a sentiment John le Carré would have endorsed, but Anne may have the final word.
Intrigue, murder, and vengeance make for a darkly enjoyable read.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64313-865-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
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