The Red Widow
is a fast-paced mystery thriller that draws heavily on the author's 37 years working in the chaos of a dying American newspaper business. As the subtitle says, the book is
"A Story of Journalism, Treachery, Betrayal and Murder" in the Land Down Under.
Kirkus Reviews calls the novel
"a well-plotted thriller that will keep readers engrossed to the very end."
The narrative takes place over 15 years, starting in the days just prior to 9/11/01. On center stage at the start is an unhappy reporting couple stationed in Sydney, Australia for the mythical
New York Herald
. The duo-Angela and Rafer Flanagan-is known to their editors in New York City as the 'Tandem Couple From Hell.' Their loathing for each other (and occasional lust) knows few limits. Her correspondent career is ascendant, his is on the rocks after winning a Pulitzer Prize early in his foreign reporting career. His drug of choice is alcohol, hers is cocaine.
The Flanagans are in New York area on home leave when the terrorists strike the World Trade Center. Rafer is supposed to be in an interview at the top of the north tower when the first plane hits at 8:46 on that nightmarish morning. He isn't there--and that's how the mystery begins.
The narrative bounces from America to Australia and back again-from steamy Washington D.C. to even steamier Darwin at the very top of the Aussie west coast. The chase is on for the Red Widow (Angela). In hot pursuit are reporters, editors, mobsters, gang members, local cops, federal cops and a takeover tycoon poised to pounce on the carcass of the
Herald
.
The climax plays out near Darwin where the fearsome salt-water crocodiles rule the waterways and mudflats.
Entertaining. Educational. Authentic.
is all three.