Customer Reviews

The Invisible World: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Samuel Xavier Adams, the first-person narrator of The Invisible World, A Novel, by John Smolens, is convinced that his own father shot President Kennedy from the grassy knoll and writes a book with his conclusions, proving means, motive, and opportunity. A cover-up campaign raises doubts about his points, and his book soon is considered just another Kennedy assassination conspiracy theory. The novel opens years later with the death of Sam's mother. She is dying in the hospital; he is visiting with her, and she is lucid; he goes to the cafeteria; twenty minutes later he returns to find her slack-jawed stupefied, all memory and awareness wiped out; and she dies thus. Petra Mousakis, a reporter who has been having talks with Sam's mother because she believes Sam's conspiracy theory, says she saw a man enter his mother's hospital room and thinks it was his father. The novel tells the story of Sam's search for his father, to learn if and why he slipped a drug to his wife, Sam's mother, to wipe out her memory.

It's an enjoyable and fascinating read. Sam's colleague Petra is by turns colleague, lover, and soul mate, in a relationship with many twists and turns, and functions novelisticly as Sam's sounding board confidant. As regards his past years, so does his heroin addicted sister Abigail. In the hunt for his father, Sam encounters a sleazy politician, a Cuban freedom fighter turned drug dealer, and other characters with a stake in his quest. It's a dangerous quest, with murders, till at the climax father and son confront each other.

This novel will resonate with anyone who grew up without a father - whether he was not present because dead, because away, because of alcoholism, because of workaholism, or whatever. In Sam's case, his and Abigail's father was a government agent for an unnamed intelligence agency and was away from home for years at a time on secret assignments. Sam's resentment simmers under his need to find and confront his father.

This novel is also a paean to the city of Boston and nearby Salem and to sailing, with much loving detail about Boston / Salem landmarks and history and about sailing minutiae.

I was gripped by the plot, I cared about the characters, and I enjoyed the writing. So I highly recommend this novel.

[name]

I've been reading John Smolens books for several years now and haven't found a bad one yet. Whether his stories are set in northern Michigan (COLD and FIRE POINT) or Boston, his sense of place and setting is always dead-on, and makes you feel like you're right there. In THE INVISIBLE WORLD you get to know the seedy bars in Boston, as well as the upscale places, places like Sevens and the Cask'n'Flagon, which sits in the shadow of Fenway and the Green Monster. The seamier side of Boston is glimpsed too, as protagonist Sam Adams tries vainly, at various times, to rescue his sister Abigail from a life of drugs and prostitution. The Adams family ... Hey, I just realized that this so very dysfunctional family is "The Adams Family"! Did you do that on purpose, John? Wasn't it enought that our hero - or anti-hero - was named Samuel Adams (with nods to both the writer and the designer beer) and his near-invisible father with his shadowy ties to government and espionage since WWII is named John (well, "Jack") Adams? Then, there's the daughter, Abigail Adams. Couldn't an English major have fun with this book just analyzing the possible significance of the names chosen for this family and probably other characters too?

But I don't mean to make light of this book, or any of Smolens' books. BEcause make no mistake, this guy is a master at creating believable and very human characters, as well as at setting the scene and creating a very firm sense of place. His pacing is skillful and exact. He keeps you turning the pages, wondering what the hell is gonna happen next. In fact his books represent the very best of literary suspense/thriller/mystery genre. And the emphasis here is on "literary." His writing is on a par with, if not above, the work of great suspense writers like James Lee Burke, Lawrence Block or the late Tony Hillerman. And several cuts above the trash for the masses that John Grisham puts out (although I must confess that while I simply can't read Grisham, his books do make good films).

The story here, another twist on the JFK assassination theories, has obviously been painstakingly researched, and thus made chillingly believable. The skulduggery, political machinations, bloodshed and murder all seem equally and eminently real.

This guy's books are just plain good. They must be, because I don't generally read many mysteries or suspense-thrillers, but Smolens snags me every time. Someone needs to "wake the town and tell the people" about this writer. He deserves a much wider audience. Read John Smolens, please. You'll be glad you did. - Tim Bazzett, author of SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA

Sam Adams, a journalist, has never really known his father. He has figured out through the past that his father was a fervent believer in democracy and has been a employ for the CIA, mob, etc. working on jobs he believed the government required him to do. Being a patriotic servent his father's presence was never perminant in his home. Looking upon the events of the past he suspects that his father may have been the assasin of J.F.Kennedy. He publishes a book connecting his father to the event. As a result, many other try to find the truth behind Sam's theory, and are after Sam's father. As the result, the search of Sam's father heightens. When Sam's mother mysteriously passes away and Sam realizes that his father has done it to hush her, for she has been questioned by those in search of Sam's father. Sam is then determined to find his father. Smolens will guide you through a wide range of emotions rare to experience form a single novel.

This is a well-written story that captures the known and unknown world that surrounds a basically down and out writer, who is still coping with the secret CIA life of his father. The death of the writer's mother, presents a clash between the two worlds, the one of his sun and the shadow life of his father. Beware once you start reading, this book with be hard to put down.