FIREFLY by P T Deutermann
P T Deutermann is one of America's best writers of techno-thrillers. His latest novel
FIREFLY is more thriller than technical adventure and it makes for an easier to read story. Deutermann creates an intriguing hero named Swamp Morgan, and gives him a crime to investigate that will have readers riveted to the words on the page.
The problem with most of Deutermann's stories is they hit too close to home. In FIREFLY the villain is a man who has had his face changed by plastic surgery. He has had some other alterations done which are staggering to imagine. The reason for the identity change is that he plans to fire a rocket into the Capitol during the swearing in of the President.
At the start of the story the clinic where Jager Heismann has had his surgery erupts in flames. Four persons are killed and all the equipment and records are either destroyed or damaged. But there should have been five victims. One of the nurses at the clinic was not on duty when the tragedy occurred. Heismann knows he has to get to her and eliminate her before she tells the police about his surgery.
The rest of the book concerns Heismann trying to get to the nurse, and Morgan trying to find out about Heismann. The way Deutermann stretches out these events makes for some exciting reading.
It is only in the final events that the book slows down. Morgan gets involved with the politics between his organization and other Washington agencies. Then there is a hard to believe resolution of the planned attack. It works in the story but it never played itself out correctly in my mind.
These glitches are small and don't impair the overall quality of the book. Deutermann's writing style fascinates me and brings me back time after time for his amazing way of describing adventures. If this is your first Deutermann story, you owe it to yourself to go back and read his earlier works. His talent is as good then as it is today.
You will enjoy FIREFLY and you will be haunted by its story even after you have finished the book. Deutermann is a writer who raises the "what if" aspect of the modern world time and time again. His scenarios are frightening but they are also warnings of what could occur. Hopefully Washington insiders are keeping up with his plots.
FIREFLY is published by St Martin's Press. It contains 352 pages and sells for $24.95.