THE SAUDI OIL GAMBIT

A dentist invents a device that revolutionizes espionage, which leads to the discovery of a plot to destabilize America’s economy.

Reggie Nelson is a man of many talents. He has a history of athletic prowess, got his pilot’s license at age 16, plays piano, attended Dartmouth College, and has a track record of incredible popularity with women. Now in his mid-50s, he’s a successful dentist in a loving 20-year marriage to Becky Wright, a vice president of a major insurance brokerage house. When Reggie decides to take up karate (again), he becomes close friends with instructor Ashonte’, who used to be a CIA Black Ops agent. Reggie tells Ashonte’ about his high-tech idea that could change spycraft: a micro transmitter secretly placed in a target’s dental filling. Ash brings the idea to his CIA contact, Lance Wood, and soon Project Loudmouth is underway. In his new Dubai clinic, Reggie implants transmitters into the teeth of Saudi Arabian oil moguls whom the CIA suspect of terrorism. Soon, the bugs pick up a plot to destroy the American economy. Author Nelson, who shares a name with his main character, presents a novel about patriotic men eager to serve their country. However, much of the book feels more like a list of actions and activities than a novel with immersive scenes. Frequent tangents about hotels, geography, oil, and characters' backstories make the pace drag. Also, narrator Reggie goes on vitriolic rants about his ex-wife, whom he characterizes as a sexually withholding pathological liar, and a female divorce-court judge: “The courts are not places for men when they are up against women in a dispute!” he says. Other women in the story, including Becky, seem to exist only to validate their spouses and serve as objects of male lust, and a major Arab character has a connection to terrorism. Readers may be amused at the various pop culture references, including a reenactment of a combat scene from the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, this doesn’t make up for the book’s problematic elements.

An unfocused story that’s hampered, in part, by its portrayals of female characters.