| How to eliminate the drug problem in America? Invent a secret
organisation called the Committee for a Drug Free Society, take
advertising space in the major newspapers warning that you are about to
put poisoned drugs into the supply chain and that anyone using narcotics
after a certain date will die - then do just that! Within weeks,
thousands of addicts are dying, which in turn acts as a powerful
deterrent for those still remaining. In no time, the demand for
narcotics nosedives and drug rehabilitation units are filling up by the
hour. |
| This simple but original premise is at the core of a fast-moving
thriller by American author, Kyle Mills (the book comes with a glowing
recommendation from Tom Clancy, no less!). |
| Ex Drug Enforcement Agency agent, John Hobart, persuades extreme
right-wing TV evangelist Simon Blake to secretly finance the seemingly
crazy but surprisingly effective plan. Blake soon comes to regret his
decision but by then it`s too late. |
| FBI agent, Mark Beamon, has to wrestle with the consequences of
this morally ambiguous crime - a country divided in to pro and anti CDFS
- at the same time as trying to unearth the villains behind the scheme.
Beamon gets little help from the US President, who has to appear to back
the FBI whilst being aware that many Americans wholly approve of ridding
the streets of the druggies. The President, like most politicians, has
paid lip service to the ever-growing problem of drugs and crime for
years. Now somebody has come up with an effective, if controversial,
solution. |
| Some characters suffer from being stereotypical and the
arch-villain, Hobart, tends to overshadow the `hero`, agent Mark Beamon,
but none of this detracts from a roller-coaster narrative and a
satisfying ending. |
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