Customer Reviews

M.A.D. Mutually Assured Destruction

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

 

 

An intruder alert at Volk Field, Wisconsin, in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis, erroneously caused fighter jets armed with nuclear missiles to prepare to take off. In our timeline, a commanding officer was able to stop the launch. In Nancy MacLean's alternate history, the planes take off, precipitating a nuclear conflict. The Soviet Union and most of the eastern North America are destroyed. China steps in to become the sole world power in the aftermath. The weakened New America is on the brink of collapse from China's blockade.

In 2011, a group of desperate American scientists acquires time travel technology from Japan. Their inaugural mission is to send someone back in time to prevent the events that led to nuclear war. The Chinese, learning of the American plan, send assassin Kuon Ko back to preserve the timeline.

When Agent Ken O'Neil arrives in 1962, the first thing he encounters is a car sinking to the bottom of a river. After his attempt to rescue the driver fails, he awakens in a hospital with a profound case of amnesia. He knows that he is on an important mission, but can remember none of the details. Ken finds money and an ad for a history teacher position in Mauston, Wisconsin hidden in the lining of his jacket. With this as his only guide, he boards a bus for Mauston, a quaint Midwestern town where news travels faster than electricity and a stranger in town immediately becomes the center of attention. Ken takes a boarding room with an acerbic widow, Mrs. Lacey, and interviews for the teaching position. Partly because he has gained the trust of Mrs. Lacey, the school principal hires him conditionally, in spite of the fact that he has no resume, only one reference and no recollection of his own history.

Ken meets fellow teacher, Lou Jensen, who lost her husband in the Korean War, and the two begin a tentative relationship. Her brother-in-law, Steve, the town sheriff, takes an immediate and strong disliking to Ken, regarding him with the deep suspicion of an overprotective relative, as well as that of a law enforcement officer. Lou's son, Matt, is also concerned about his mother and wary of Ken.

Ken's memory returns to him only in small chunks. He knows that he is out of his normal time element -- his first indication of this is the absurdly low cost for lunch at a local diner. He remembers things like microwaves that have not yet been invented and he knows the words to a song the first time it is ever played on the radio. His mission, though, continues to elude him.

Kuon Ko, on the other hand, arrives in the past without any memory impairment. He knows what Ken is trying to do even though Ken does not. Ko intends to keep Ken from stopping the air launch at Volk Field.

The prologue of "M.A.D." reads like heavy science fiction, describing the events of a failed time travel experiment, but from chapter one onward, the book is a charming suspense story. The developing relationship between Lou and Ken is sweet, funny and romantic. MacLean builds the suspense carefully, creating multi-centered tension involving Ken, Lou, Sheriff Jensen and the Chinese assassin. Ken's anachronistic memories, a cornerstone of any time travel novel, are handled with wit and creativity. The climax is taut and compelling.

Although M.A.D.'s time-travel premises hinges on a subject more common to science fiction than mainstream literature, its romance and mysteries unfold with a regard for the elegant language usually found only in lterary novels. MacLean's research into the l962 Cuban Missle Crisis is evident. The novel touches upon many of the political and social issues facing our society without a trace of dry historical exposition.

The beauty of this story is how every piece of the puzzle supports the outcome - how every detail that makes human beings unique and defines our identity can impove our world and preserve the future of humanity. Captivating characters, believable dialogue and the tightest little body I've seen in a plot for a long time made this read pure pleasure.

Nancy is also the author of Dawn of Ice and is currently working on Sentient Soul, an inspiring novel about the evolution of souls. As one of her fans -- I can't wait.

It's a fascinating premise: a Nuclear War precipitated by human hubris and simple carelessness in Kennedyesque America, circa 1962. Based on a near miss that actually occurred in our history, by the way. In MacLean's story, the cataclysm did indeed happen, and a time traveler from the future must come back to try and change all of history. M.A.D. is thoughtfully conceived, and it is a crisply paced story. Its character development is above average, which of course is a prerequisite to a story that the reader can really care about. Fortunately, the book grabs your attention from the very first page and never lets it go until the thrilling, climactic moment. Then, as a bonus, the plot line lingers awhile, a sign of an exceptional read. This book is well worth your time.

Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.), by Authorlink Award Winner Nancy MacLean, is an artfully composed detective story set within a science fiction context. As with the classics of detective fiction, the puzzle of assembling the clues of plot revelations is measured primarily through character development and dialogue, toward an already known circumstance. In M.A.D., the initial `fact' of the 1962 nuclear war and its aftermath is gradually and tentatively explored, only being fully revealed in the concluding chapters, while the progress of the novel provides conjoining insights, and a myriad of twists and complications. MacLean's premise of time-travel in order to prevent this disaster and to rewrite history is charmingly complicated by the hero's amnesia; which both involves the reader in knowingly cheering the hero forward, and places the central character in the ironically reversed position of knowing even less than the local characters with whom he interacts. Of an even more compelling nature, however, is the central love story that evolves between Ken and Louise, and the quality of the depiction of their emotional and psychological complexity and humanity - a humanity that enlists the emotional allegiance of the reader into a direct and compassionate involvement. Embodying a pithy humour sprinkled with compelling pathos, along with complexities of plot that elevate and sustain interest, M.A.D. invites the reader to participate in the search, teases them along with tantalizing revelations, then delivers with a cataclysmic climax. With Mutually Assured Destruction, MacLean certainly delivers.

M.A.D. was great reading. I had a hard time putting it down once I started. It is an wonderful combination of romance and mystery with a little humor along the way. I thought the characters were interesting and real. I would recommend this book to you.