Customer Reviews

The Lazarus File

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I don't think I have ever before read a spy thriller, but if action, intrigue, and an ingenious plot are the criteria for such books, then this is a good one even without regard to its deeper values. (But aren't deeper values rare in this genre?) Since Donn Taylor is an old friend of mine, it doesn't surprise me that the two main characters of "The Lazarus File" actually deserve to be called the hero and heroine, that both are not only brave but highly moral, and that loyalty to country and loved ones motivates them both. Don't worry that those qualities might make them dull, though. These characters are as tough as any of the communists and other Caribbean and Andean villains who keep trying to cause their deaths or worse and who also hope to create big trouble for the United States. The throat-slashings, stranglings, blowings-up, and shootings are frequent, explicit, and usually deserved. In short, this book keeps you interested and leaves you satisfied. I imagine that those, too, are criteria of the genre.

Langley, VA, 1975. Another agent is dead. So many lost recently. Is there a mole in the agency? Who can be trusted? These are questions CIA agent Dub Minden had to ask, even of the close-knit group he'd worked with for years. What was going on? Losing this last agent meant The Agency's project in the Caribbean was about to die with him unless they could insert another man-and soon. And Dub knew just the man-one who was already dead.

Mark Daniel, shot down in Thailand and presumed dead, fit the bill perfectly for the Caribbean project for reasons known only to Dub. Complicated and `need-to-know' steps were taken to protect Mark's identity and get him into the region. Code name: Lazarus. Appropriately named, but would it work?

Medellin, Columbia, 1977. After two years, Mark Daniel, now known as Carlos Ortiz, freelance pilot for sale to the highest bidder, has made contact with one of the drug warlords to smoke out the leaders of a huge drug ring the Agency has been trying to put out of business for years--the same cartel that had managed to ferret out and kill the previous agents planted in their midst before Mark. Only Dub Minden and one other know Mark's real identity and where he is.

Carlos plays a dangerous game which becomes even more so when he is sky-jacked at gun-point and forced to fly into Bogota to rescue the lovely Sol Agueda de Roca from a kidnapping attempt. Because of this flight, Carlos misses a crucial appointment with Paolo Guzman, a dangerous man Carlos hopes will put him in touch with the next man up the line. Can he explain and still meet the contact he needs? Can he even stay alive?

When Sol de Roca becomes the victim of an assassination attempt and Carlos is once again drawn into their lives, things heat up at a rapid pace and soon we find Sol and Carlos running for their lives in the mountains of Columbia.

THE LAZARUS FILE has some unexpected twists and turns that make you turn the pages, though it does get bogged down from time to time. Still, Donn Taylor shows skillful writing and a wry humor in the character of Ramon, Sol's dedicated but devious body guard. He kept me guessing all the way through. I loved him. Great characterization.

I did have a problem with the quality of the book itself, though. I haven't broken the spine of a book since I was a kid, but about half-way through this one the binding let loose and a few pages fell out. One of the hazards of small press publication. All in all, though, if you like spy/thriller novels, you might want to try to find a copy of THE LAZARUS FILE.

Genre: Suspense/Thriller
Author: Donn Taylor
Book: The Lazarus File
Publisher: Panther Creek Press
ISBN-9678343-9-2
Rated: PG 13

The Lazarus File by Donn Taylor is the author's first novel as well as the first book of a planned trilogy about subversion in Central America and the Caribbean. According to Gwyneth Atlee, author of Canyon Song, "...it features a man of his word and a woman of convictions, compelling characters that readers will follow eagerly through a world of shifting loyalties and deadly intrigues." It is indeed that and a lot more.
I always enjoy a book that teaches me something, painlessly, while the plot and characters are entertaining me. In The Lazarus File, Donn Taylor paints an accurate picture of life in the Cold War years of the early 70's. Since he was both a participant in military operations and a college teacher, he demonstrates both passion and accuracy for the topic. Donn Taylor's is the non-revisionist version of how it was when Communism was a very real threat to world peace and when some in leadership did not take it seriously enough. While never preachy, he definitely expresses convictions that have been lost in the tranquility of détente.
The story is written in the third person, which allows us to move from Columbia to Costa Rica, from Cuba to CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. We can track Communist guerrillas carrying out a plot to take over various countries, while U.S. agents work to uncover the mole that has been compromising our undercover operatives.
One of these operatives is Mark Daniels, who took almost two years to establish himself as a renegade pilot, re-named Carlos Ortiz. He claims to be motivated only by money, thus feigning disinterest in politics and non-allegiance to America.
As pilot for a powerful drug lord, Mark uncovers an unholy alliance that has been formed between his boss, Paolo Guzman and political activist, Raul Tizon. Between them they have put into action a grand design to establish military bases around the Caribbean in order aid the Communists in their quest for world domination.
In contrast to ruthless drug dealers and vicious soldiers, Mark meets a wise and benevolent businessman and his beautiful, noble wife. She and her servants become valuable allies when subversives cut Mark off from communication with his contacts in the States. So, along with the intrigue and adventure, we are treated to a lesson about the people and their culture. Peasants and patriarchs who are trying to carry on amidst the chaos that was threatening not only their government but their very existence as well.
The last eighty pages will keep you on the edge of your chair or up way past your bedtime. I never doubted that the good guys would win but seeing how they accomplish it against seemingly impossible odds just could not wait until tomorrow!
As for the technical aspects of The Lazarus File, by Donn Taylor, I appreciated the fact that there was hardly any profanity used; so refreshing to see the language work sufficiently without it. However, I would like to see a little more personal style by the author and less grammatical formality. And, in fact, that began to happen by the end of the book. So I am definitely looking forward to the next installment in this trilogy.
The Lazarus File by Donn Taylor is an exciting story of adventure, suspense, love and relationships and can be found on Amazon.com...P>About the Reviewer: Maggie Harding is a substance abuse counselor in Phoenix, AZ. Who wanted to be Brenda Starr before life intervened. Her reviews can be heard every Wednesday on BookCrazy.net...

Donn Taylor slowly develops his characters and I loved it. You get to know his characters and become comfortable with them. The villians are evil and after 9/11 we know these people do exist. His research on Columbia was extensive and I felt I was in Columbia and could feel the cold in the mountains at night. I was cheering for the hero and being a Vietnam veteran, I knew his choices were hard. Donn Taylor has a realistic, well planned plot and a great twist toward the end. Buy, read, and enyoy.

If you like Robert Ludlum's style of spy intrigue, this is the book for you. Taylor weaves together several inter-related stories to create a tightly plotted and plausible tale of espionage and Central American political instability. The protagonists genuinely suffer from injuries past and present. Tension runs high as the subplots converge in a fiery conclusion.

If you like well-crafted, fast-paced intrigue, this book is for you. It is probably the best of this genre I've read recently and I have read many of these.

As the back cover tells us: "About the Author--
Donn Taylor led an Infantry rifle platoon in Korea, served with Army aviation in Vietnam, and worked with air reconnaisance and intelligence collection in Europe and Asia...."

Donn Taylor is qualified to write a story with intense intrigue. He does so, masterfully, and with occasional humorous zingers from fascinating, well-rounded characters, some of them in love. You get attached and really hate to lose any of them--!