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Review by Lloyd Armour
The idea of a supersecret military group that has its own "black budget" and answers only to a few in the innermost sanctums of the Pentagon is a favorite gambit for fiction writers, although the military scoffs at the thought.
There are, of course, known special forces units past and present -- Navy Seals, Army Rangers, Green Berets and the like. But there also have been recurring rumors since the Vietnam War of special assassination groups that sought out American and Vietnamese defectors and murdered them.
In Joseph Finder's new novel "High Crimes," there are some obvious similarities to happenings in Vietnam, though the massacre in the book is in El Salvador.
Claire Heller Chapman leads a comfortable and happy life with her husband Tom and her six-year-old daughter, Annie. She is a Harvard law professor and a criminal defense attorney, noted for taking on tough cases and winning.
One day while the three of them are dining at an upscale shopping mall in downtown Boston, they are approached by two men who identify themselves as federal agents and address Tom as Ronald Kubik, telling him he is under arrest. Tom takes off running.
Thus begins Claire's worst nightmare as she watches Tom flee. But ultimately he is captured and accused of a 13-year-old atrocity that he swears he didn't commit. He is charged with killing 87 villagers, backed by eyewitness accounts that show up in the form of sworn affidavits. And to confuse Claire even more, checks into Tom's past turn up dead ends. She doesn't know what to believe.
Joseph Finder is a superb storyteller, as anyone who read his novel, "The Zero Hour," can attest. This may be an even better read, and there is certainly no lack of suspense as Claire finds her life in serious jeopardy while in pursuit of the truth about her husband. Does she prevail? You must read the book to find out.
Lloyd Armour is a retired newspaper editor.
©1998, ProMotion, inc.
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