Creepy critters in Florida

REVIEWS BY BRUCE TIERNEY

In West Africa, an unpleasant parasitic creature known as the Guinea worm can grow to a length of several feet within (get this) its human host. It eventually pokes itself out through the host's skin, and can be removed only a few inches at a time, by winding the worm around a pencil as it makes its exit. Meanwhile, in South America, an equally diabolical little fish called the candiru swims up the urinary tract of its victim, extending barbs into the soft tissue to prevent its removal as it merrily munches its way into the bladder and points north. Randy Wayne White's latest novel, Dead of Night, posits a well-organized group of terrorists introducing these species and several other nasty critters into the Florida ecosystem; it will be up to marine biologist Doc Ford to stop them if he can. Ford, a laid-back Travis McGee-like character, runs a marine laboratory in Sanibel Island, just off the western coast of Florida. In an earlier incarnation, however, he worked as a hired gun for a hush-hush quasi-governmental organization. He is no stranger to "wet work," the neutralization or destruction of members of the opposing team. Ecoterrorism is a particularly insidious form of intimidation, and White mines that vein admirably. In addition to his 11 Doc Ford novels, he has written several books on the ecology of the tropics.


Crime wave in Miami

James O. Born's first novel, Walking Money, was an instant success and a fine read as well. Now Born is back with Shock Wave, his second book featuring Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent Bill Tasker. Despite heavy post-9/11 pressures toward cooperation, interagency collaboration on cases is often something to be endured, not relished. When Tasker's agency (FDLE) is called upon to investigate the illicit sale of a "misplaced" Stinger missile, assistance will be required from both ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) and the FBI. The ATF contact is a well-developed (and more than a bit flirtatious) redhead by the name of Camy Parks, so there are no complaints to be lodged on that count. The FBI agent, however, is a pseudo-hip, urban-slang slinger by the name of Jimmy Lail who's instantly annoying to Tasker. Almost immediately the operation goes awry, and the wrong person, one Daniel Wells, is incarcerated for the crime. Tasker intercedes on Wells' behalf, securing his release from jail, only to find out that Wells has connections to one or more hate groups, and that he has been experimenting with dangerous explosives in his garage. Wells, as you might imagine, has made himself very scarce since his fortuitous release from jail. And, if things go his way, he intends to use his free time to create an explosion the likes of which Miami has never seen. Shock Wave is a first-rate sequel to Walking Money; it is crisply paced, credible and original, with characters you will want to spend time getting to know.


Drama in the District

George Pelecanos' latest novel, Drama City, is the story of parolee Lorenzo Brown, a one-time drug dealer trying his best to follow the straight-and-narrow. After eight years in prison, Lorenzo has returned to his old Washington, D.C., neighborhood and has found a job with the Humane Society, policing animal abusers and removing mistreated pets from dangerous situations. On every corner, he sees younger versions of himself, teenagers working their way up in the drug organizations of two rival crime lords, Nigel Johnson and Deacon Taylor. Once a week, Lorenzo must report to his parole officer, Rachel Lopez, an attractive Hispanic woman with a secret after-hours life. In very short order, these people's lives will be inextricably interwoven: one will be attacked and left for dead, one will die, one will have to decide where loyalties lie and one will walk away with all the marbles. Pelecanos' characters are believably flawed, yet at times they can display the sort of nobility that can blindside the unprepared. His eye for nuance and milieu and his ear for street slang are unparalleled in the genre. With Drama City, Pelecanos has crafted another complex and intelligently written addition to his D.C. series, a page-turner of the first order.


Mystery of the Month

The winner of this month's Tip of the Ice Pick Award is Mo Hayder's The Devil of Nanking. Part suspense tale, part Joy Luck Club and part Sophie's Choice, this is a lyrical novel in which secrets foreshadow the undoing of their bearers, and exposure of the secrets offers redemption. History, folklore and ancient taboos are interwoven seamlessly with the modern-day mystery, which begins when Grey, a young Englishwoman, arrives penniless in Tokyo, nursing a major obsession. Grey, of course, is not her real name. She acquired it from a bedmate at a hospital some years before: "I was grey. Thin and white and a little bit see-through. Nothing at all left alive in me. A ghost." A ghost with an obsession, however: a scholar's urge to acquire a rare bit of film footage from the 1937 Nanking massacre.

Before the beginning of World War II the Imperial Japanese Army had invaded China. By winter of 1937, the army had reached Nanking. The atrocities were unspeakable; by some accounts more than 400,000 Chinese were murdered, piled in a mountain of corpses at the city's edge. More than five decades have passed, but Grey feels that the key to her search lies with Dr. Shi Chongming, a guest lecturer at Todai University in Tokyo, who had been a

resident of Nanking at the time of the massacre. In between meetings with the standoffish professor, Grey must find a way to make some quick money, so she accepts a job as a hostess at a trendy Tokyo nightspot. Here she meets an elderly yakuza, a man with a terrible secret. Grey is no stranger to terrible secrets herself, and she is about to uncover yet another with the help of the inscrutable Dr. Chongming.

By way of warning, this is a disturbing book, and there are scenes of graphic (but in no way gratuitous) violence which are necessary to portray such horrific events. By any measure, The Devil of Nanking is a novel that resonates long after the last page has been turned.


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