Customer Reviews

Due Preparations for the Plague

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I was unprepared for the impact of this riveting novel, defined by psychological tensions and a complicated plot, which presents a deceptively simple story. A number of young children are released from a hijacked Air France flight, although their parents meet a horrible death at the hands of terrorists, the children's lives forever tainted by what they have witnessed. But there is a subplot that implicates the government, notably the CIA, in the manipulation of information that led to the deaths of those on the flight. Over the years, the surviving children keep in close contact, desperately seeking emotional connections. They create a web site, where they request any information regarding the Air France hijacking incident.

Of the surviving children, Samantha is the most driven, unable to cease her relentless quest for answers. None of the children have attained normalcy, the devastation of early trauma marking each facet of their lives. Samantha has been phoning Lowell continuously, in search of yet another detail, as he lost his mother in the tragedy, but was not on the plane. Lowell, an ineffectual husband and father, tormented by nightmares, is the son of a suspected CIA operative in charge of Operation Black Death, code-named Salamander. Lowell is unaware of his father's part in the government cover-up, having spent years believing himself a disappointment to an emotionally distant father. But when Lowell receives a package from his father, recently killed in a car accident, the contents change his perspective and raise serious questions of personal responsibility.

When Lowell finally contacts Samantha, he is in a panic, afraid he is pursued because of the material now in his possession. Unsure whether they are paranoid about the surveillance, Samantha and Lowell secretly meet to review Lowell's contraband, faced with a difficult decision, balancing the explosive information and their desire for survival. There are a number of inexplicable coincidences, people who have known each other in distant places and circumstances brought together on the fateful flight. Both Sam and Lowell discover that some of their relatives are associated with the puzzle, although only tangentially.

Due Preparations for the Plague is a bold examination of an incident of terrorism and the subsequent obfuscation of facts by the CIA. The unacknowledged, clandestine operations of a government engaged in a different kind of war, deliberately invisible, albeit just as deadly, exists after all, unremarked by most. When evil is perpetrated in pursuit of power, there are those who seek to contain that evil, to balance the potential for destruction. But history is rife with examples of failure. In consorting with the worst of mankind, contamination by association is inevitable, small surrenders that deplete good intentions, until there is only the lesser evil and a decision to sustain collateral damage is made by the few for the many.

Yet there is redemption for Sam and Lowell, the intensley personal perspective of those that perished, as, unified, they oppose their tormentor with inordinate bravery. The author graphically illustrates the nature of the human spirit, transcending circumstances, transforming victims from pawns to examples of life at its most magnificent. In the most extreme circumstances, the human spirit demands an intimate communion with others, its pure flame annihilating differences. In a message of love and forgiveness, the dead send hope to future generations, survivors of indignity and shame that lift their faces, uncowed, to the light. "To state quite simply what we learn in a time of pestilence: that there are more things to admire in men than to despise". (Albert Camus, THE PLAGUE). Luan Gaines/2003.

With these words the random killing begins in the hijacking of an Air France flight to New York in September, 1987, a five-day ordeal which results in hostage taking, the release of poison gas, and, ultimately, explosions and death for more than 400 people. This fictional but very realistic depiction of the hijacking and the questions it raises about responsibility combine with Turner Hospital's atmospheric and richly detailed imagery to produce a novel that is powerful in its impact and almost surreal in its intensity.

In a style somewhat reminiscent of John LeCarre, Turner Hospital tells sinister, overlapping stories about the victims on the flight, the children who were released by the hijackers and survived to adulthood, and the family members who were left behind to mourn and search for answers. The narrative shifts back and forth through different speakers and points of view, from 1987 to the present and back, building a multi-layered and suspenseful story that is haunting in its emotional effect.

Though the plot is exciting, the focus here is as much on the characters' psychology as on dramatic action. The now-adult children of the hijacking victims tell their stories in the present as they recall events from the past and the questions which torment them still, while the actual participants in the 1987 hijacking tell their stories up to the moment of their deaths. As the survivors investigate the hijacking, they learn that it is not only possible but likely that members of US security agencies helped engineer and implement the catastrophe which claimed their parents. They believe a man called Sirocco commanded the hijacking, but they are also seeking Salamander, his American "controller."

Turner Hospital's eye for detail is unerring, and she uses metaphors with skillful effect to reveal a character's state of mind or create atmosphere. One child/survivor when dreaming, experiences "a terrible intrusive slash of sound, white at the center with red capillaries rivering out." Another character "moves in a weather of anxiety." The author broadens her historical perspective by showing that this kind of violence also existed in Sodom, Gomorrah, and more recently, Nagasaki From literature she cites Boccaccio, Defoe, Camus, and others, pointing out that these writers were condemned "to tell the stories of those who haunted them as an act of propitiation." Smoothly integrated and thought-provoking, these references add to the novel's impact and widen its scope. Though the author relies somewhat heavily on coincidence to resolve the story and create an ending that echoes with "happily ever after," the novel is thoughtful, vividly written, and hypnotic in its spell. 4.5 stars. Mary Whipple

This review is for the W. W. Norton & Company hardcover first edition published in July 2003, 401 pages. This edition does not have a reader's guide. DUE PREPARATIONS FOR THE PLAGUE is Janette Turner Hospital's tenth novel. She also has published five collections of stories.

This is a literary spy thriller about the hijacking of Air France flight 64 bound for New York from Paris in September 1987. The narrative present, however, begins in September 2000 and focuses on two persons whose parent or parents died during the tragedy. The story has suspense, intrigue, CIA agents, spies, code names, Arab terrorists, and technological revelation consistent with the thriller genre. But unlike most thriller novels, it does not have a larger than life superhero/heroine, it does not require leaps of faith, and the plot does not terminate in the ridiculous or sublime. This well written novel is both character and plot driven.

For the first time in about fifty reviews that I've submitted, I just read the other customer reviews before finishing mine. Interesting. It appears that those who have tired of the thriller genre, which is gravitating towards formulaic ridiculousness before blissful ending, rate this puppy four or five stars, whereas fans of the genre, nauseated by literary aspects, upchuck two or three. And there is one reader who finds the melding of genre and literary a blasphemous sacrilege, as ignominious as interracial marriage.

I've two observations for the undecided.

Many with an MFA in writing soak their stories in sensory detail, use pages to describe their settings with perfumed words, interrupt dialogue with a symphony of gestures. Janette Turner Hospital is not one of those. Her writing snaps, crackles and pops; it is explicit and purposeful. She tells a story.

On the other hand, Ms. Hospital loaded this one with classical references. The quotations preceding sections are not a bother; read them or skip them. It's the stuff within the story, the analogies and metaphors drawn from the multitude of literature that I've not read that embarrassed me. So I looked them up. Daedalus and Icarus, Scipio and Polybius are from Greek mythology, as is Odysseus and the sorceress Circe. "Bloweth where it listeth" is from the bible (Jon iii 8). Yorick's skull is from Hamlet. Iseult, who fell in love with Tristan, is medieval legend, but Baal Shem Tov, the legendary rabbi, lived from 1698 to 1760. Oh, the Lorenz discovery refers to Edward Lorenz's Chaos Theory about the weather. The four horsemen of death ride in from Apocalypse. Shiva is an Indian god. Kalidasa wrote Cloud Messenger, an Indian love poem. Decameron is the first work of Tuscan literature, which Boccaccio wrote during the plague about the plague.

Notwithstanding, it's a five star read.

Rather than repeat what has been written by others on this page, I'd only like to add that normally this book is not my usual cup of tea. I burnt out on the genre back in the 70's, and haven't felt the need to return to it. The front page of the newspaper has all the international intrigue I can handle. But this wonderful book , with its indepth psychological insights and interwoven histories, had me wishing I could call in to work so I could keep reading. It was given to me by someone whose taste I admire, so under his recommendation I gave it a shot. If it's possible, each section should be read (as all short stories should) in one sitting. The continuity and suspense are masterfully handled. Of particular interest is the reader's guide that follows the text which sheds illumination on the most potent section in the book.

Due Preparations for the Plague gets most of its impact from the tragedies of terrorist acts, such as Pan Am flight 103 and most of all 9/11. Further interest is drawn from our knowledge that the U.S. government, and specifically the CIA, has been involved in covert plots around the world that have ultimately been detrimental to the country's best interests.

Terrorism is today's modern plague and as Camus warned, we must be ever vigilant. Are you concerned that part of this vigilence includes keeping careful watch on the CIA? Do you believe that the U.S. government is capable of making deals with the enemy that may include some domestic collateral damage? Does the government sometimes believe that the ends justify the means? If you answered yes to these questions, then this book is for you.

DPftP also delves into the innermost thoughts of victims and survivors but it's a bit erratic in this area. Lowell's clunky, hard-to-believe actions early in the book when he is presented with evidence to solve 13 years of uncertainty, give way to a smoother, more convincing and gripping story.

The plot is tricky to follow with action continually jumping back and forth from 1987 to 2000/2001 and the inclusion some interesting relationships between the characters. It's made more complicated by male nicknames for many of the female characters.

Factual details of chemical warfare, voyeuristic death scenes and survivor's guilt make for some disturbing reading but if this type of subject matter fascinates you, make due preparations for spending time with this book.

Albert Camus wrote, "There have been as many plagues as wars in history, yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise." "Due Preparations For The Plague" centers on an incident as terrible as a war or plague, and as surprising, for hundreds of people. A terrorist group, The Black Death, hijacked Air France Flight 64 to New York in September, 1987. During the five day period of negotiations between the terrorists and various governments' officials, the children on the plane were released and held in safety, waiting for the inevitable outcome, and longing for their parents' safe return. The reunion never took place and all remaining passengers met a horrific death. Thanks to the miracle of TV, the children were exposed to it all in living color. Needless to say, they were scarred for life by the events of this period, as they would have been marked by the scars of a terrible plague or a war.

Many of these surviving children have stayed in touch with each other over the years, seeking emotional support and comfort. They maintain a website on which they request information concerning the doomed flight, even though much of the information is classified. They all suffer psychological traumas and an obsession with the tragedy. Two of the survivors in particular, Samantha and Lowell, attempt to piece together the events leading up to the hijacking. As they do so, many of the key passengers' stories are revealed. Espionage, politics, betrayal, and love affairs all play their part in the convoluted web of Flight 64 and its demise. It is a web that links together, forever, the passengers and their families.

Janette Turner Hospital explores a terrorist incident, government cover-ups, the moral implications of collateral damage when weighed against "the good of the nation," and the dangers involved when choosing the lesser of many evils. The novel is filled with believable clandestine plots and double-crosses. The narrative spirals back and forward in time, disorienting the reader, as the characters are disoriented, weaving past and present together in the search for the truth.

Ms. Turner Hospital illustrates her storyline with highly effective historical and literary allusions, quoting Daniel Defoe, Albert Camus, Robert Browning, Lewis Carroll, Jorge Luis Borges, the Book of Job, Boccaccio, and Shakespeare, among others. She is a writer of consummate craft and writes with a lyrical style and intensity that bring acts of terrible cruelty, as well as those of great love and courage, to the reader's doorstep. She asks how one prepares for death. And how does one live with survival?

"Due Preparations For The Plague" is an extraordinary psychological thriller...and more. One of the characters muses at the novel's end, "How do we ready ourselves for what might happen tomorrow? What possible preparations can be made?" In the days, months and years following September 11, 2001, this entire theme is horrifyingly relevant.
JANA

The first quarter of Due Preparations for the Plague is very involving, as Hospital provides us with a tighty-plotted thriller that weaves together duel story lines from the past and present. Her characters deftly weave in and out of a story arc that is set in two time periods - 1987 and the year 2000. The story starts out dramatically with a traffic accident and the introduction of the two main protagonists Lowell and Samantha, the child survivors of an Air France hijacking. Then novel turns into what is literally a literary jigsaw puzzle as Lowell and Samantha try to piece together the truth behind the hijacking and the secret of the accident.

I love the way Hospital readily switches from the present where Samantha, Lowell and the others from the Phoenix Group are trying to come to terms with what has happened, to the past where Tristian and Genevieve are about to board to the plane for New York. The best part of the novel, however, is the actual hijacking, which is told in such graphic, violent detail, and with so much authenticity that you really feel as though you are there on the plane. This is probably the most riveting and well-written chapter in the book, as Hospital conveys the continual take-off and landings against a backdrop of claustrophobic heat. It is also interesting that the actual hijacking section is seen though Tristian's point of view, as he is only one of a handful of passengers on the plane who survives. There are many twists and turns in the plot, as the pieces of the puzzle gradually come together and we learn whom the shadowy figures of Salamander, Sirocco are.

The last half of Due Preparations for the Plague, however, is far too dialogue driven and stuffed with pretentiously dull sections on the nature of warfare. We don't really need to know the ins and outs of chemical warfare and the effects of saran gas on the nervous system; these passages simply detract from the main plot and characters. And we could also have been spared pages and pages of insufferable ramblings on the history of war - from Ancient Troy to Carthage, to Napoleon's France. I can understand that in a post 9/11 world, stories dealing with international terrorism, particularly terrorism dealing with Muslim extremism, are going to be told, which is fine, but we don't need stories on this subject that are over stuffed with literary pretentiousness. Due Preparations for the Plague is trying too hard to be something it is not, and unfortunately, in my opinion it is nothing more than "dressed up" pulp fiction.

Michael

Don't read Janette Turner Hospital's award-winning novel, Due Preparations for the Plague, if you think anxious times call for comforting, undemanding reads. Though it was published several years ago, the dark, fast-paced narrative is ripped from today's headlines, complete with political terrorists, government spies, and innocent victims of global tensions. I find it hard to believe that no one has made a movie of it.

If your mind has ever strayed to that terrifying "What If"--"What if I were one of the unlucky ones in the Tower (airplane, subway, etc.)?"--this novel will help you fill in the gaps. And it won't be pretty.

Through shifting perspectives of time and place, we learn about the hijacking of Air France 64, a transatlantic jet on which hundreds have died. Years later, many of the victims' children have formed a support group. They are an unusually gifted bunch, who share an obsession with questions surrounding this bizarre event. A few commit suicide or die in unusual circumstances. Others become alcoholics, bad parents, and paranoid cases. Is human wreckage the inevitable result of such a trauma? That is one of the many questions the author explores.

What comes through in the victims' voices is a deep well of grief and betrayal. They live in a world where enormous evil has trounced love and beauty.

Interestingly, Turner Hospital started her novel before the events of 9/11, then rewrote key portions of it to reflect what she learned. To her mind, the cell phone messages to loved ones from people in the doomed airplanes and Twin Towers reflected a state of "radiant calm."

She puts this to best effect in the book's most chilling scene, a nod to Boccaccio's Decameron. As a last negotiating card, ten people are selected from the hijacked airliner and taken to a bunker, where they are given a chance to deliver, with their last breaths, any messages to the world.

One by one, they rip off the masks and articulate what has been most profound about their lives. Or they tell a story. Or sing a song. It's a jaw-dropping scene, completely unforgettable.

This is a daring, accomplished novel, not so much a thriller as a psychological inquiry with a backdrop of global politics. Turner Hospital compares our anxiety at the start of the 21st century to the fears that dogged Europeans during the bubonic plagues of medieval times. Lacking a germ theory, much less modern medicines and vaccines, those populations were terrified. Where to turn for safety? Who to blame? These days we have a better idea what could wipe us out, but we're still practically defenseless. Despite the pessimism and terror the author portrays, she lets us know that the human spirit can still prevail.

Rebecca Burke
Author of When I Am Singing to You and The Ahimsa Club

This latest by Ms. Hospital may not be as good as OYSTER, but it certainly compares well with any of the works of her contemporaries. Obviously influenced by the events of September 11, 2001-- as well as other cases of international terrorism-- the author has written an intriguing tale of espionage that will keep you reading. An Air France flight 64 was highjacked in September 1987. The hijackers let the 40 children leave the plane but all the adults on the flight perished-- or did they? Ms. Hospital introduces a number of characters, all of them connected in some way with the doomed flight and thus connected to each other: the surviving children, other relatives, friends, professionals et al. The time sequence begins in 2000, 13 years after the hijacking, and goes back and forth to before the 1987 date. I kept thinking, while reading this page-turner, that the writer had the movies in mind when she wrote this-- and that is not a criticism of the novel. I had difficulty casting the movie although surely Harrison Ford should have some role, if he is not too old to play Lowell Hawthorne. Ashley Judd might work as the character Lou, since they are both Southerners. If it's well directed and has the right actors, the movie will be a winner.

Ms. Hospital writes about thorny subjects: how far a democratic nation (U. S.) will go or what measures its goverment will take in order to destroy an enemy terrorist cell? Or how much "collateral damage" is too much? But she writes of hopeful themes as well: in spite of the universality of governmental coverups, that the truth will endure. And finally "the dead never stop telling us stories"-- and in a moving scene near the end of the novel as they sit in a cemetery, the character Lou tells another character Samantha that "the dead never leave us."

Ms. Hospital divides her novel into eight books. Each section begins with pertinent quotations from other writers: Shakespeare, Camus, Lewis Carroll, Daniel Defoe et al. With the exception of an ending that I found a tad contrived and really not necessary, this novel is as good as a psychological thriller gets.

Hospital has done a fine job grasping hold of this reader and not letting him go. There were a few aspects I didn't like -- all those quotations from other authors -- Camus, Defoe, Borges, etc. -- at the start of sections (Why do academics and literary types like to do this? Do they hope to bask in reflected glory?)And there was some awkward "fine writing" that broke the illusion and deflected from the story and exploration of the characters. But the story is powerful and the story-telling quite strong. Once involved, it was hard to put this book down. If you crave good writing applied to a strong plot, you will definitely like this novel.