A Fictional Tale as Authentic as Reality

Richard North Patterson is one of my favorite writers.  Although he is technically a fictional novelist, some of his books are so close to reality that they nearly cancel out the imaginary nature of his tales.

One of Patterson's best, a real thriller.

“The Devil’s Light,” written in 2011, three years after one of America’s greatest crises, is a story of intrigue, deception and terrorism – a tale of cunning and espionage so realistic in its depiction of events that it becomes credible:  a nuclear attack upon . . . . Well, I don’t want to give away Patterson’s very intricate, can’t-put-down-the-book, spider web of a plot.

Patterson is not a mere weaver of stories.  Like many of his other books, this one is suffused with the result of in-depth research and prior consultation with prominent persons who have walked the talk.  His writing resonates with reality.

In some ways, he is a prophet – but then again, who listens to prophets?

Here are a few quotations from “The Devil’s Light,” thoughts ascribed to the book’s characters as the story swiftly progresses:

“As a nation we’re addicted to wishful thinking, staggering from crisis to crisis with the foresight of a two-year old.

Think of all the people who nearly brought us a worldwide depression:  financial parasites, greedy lenders, cowardly regulators, venal politicians, and millions of gullible folks who lived on charge cards and thought they could buy a house for nothing.

 

Or a massive oil spill, where a soulless company was enabled by a spineless bureaucracy that gave them what they wanted, and a populace too blind to see that oil has become like crack.

 

It’s a moral failure on the most profound level, where everyone blames everyone else and no one looks in the mirror.”

One of Patterson’s characters offers these views concerning political parties:

About “Cheney’s Law,” as ascribed to that Republican:

“Theorists in Washington jabbering about the world like the inmates of an asylum, until they create their own reality out of fantasy, never imagining the havoc they’ll wreak.”

About not leaving Washington’s Democrats off the hook:

“A lot of them live in the wing reserved for manic-depressives – on any given day, you don’t know who they’ll be.  In either case, we become their whipping boy when things go wrong.”

What is so impressive about Patterson is his intuition.  As you read this last quotation from “The Devil’s Light,” think of the current chaos in the Middle East and of how some of it might have been prevented: 

 

Patterson penned these words in 2011 when Brooke Chandler, the book’s main character, speaks about the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq after the current White House failed in its negotiations to leave behind a residual force to maintain order:

“Our troops are drawing down and confined to certain areas.  We’re leaving behind one of the most corrupt countries on earth – a fragmented mess riddled with al Qaeda cells and crisscrossed with smuggling networks.  You can run anything in or out of Iraq and never get caught.  Even a nuclear bomb.”

Today, three years later, Khorasan, an offshoot of al Qaeda is established in the area, and the Islamic State occupies territory in Syria and Iraq.

I recommend the book.  If you like fast-paced, realistic thrillers, read this one; you will love it.

Thanks for reading, take care of yourself during these tenuous times.