Customer Reviews

Smoke Screen: A Novel

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

 

 

The premise behind this book is very good. Capture a Cuban terrorist who arrives in the US, but make it look like something else. The "something else" becomes a hotel robbery that goes bad and the Cuban winds up being taken as a hostage. However, the hotel heist really does go bad and the Cuban escapes, along with ten million dollars in diamonds. Teddy Tedesco, ex-New York cop, must find the terrorist before he releases a deadly air-borne virus at a political convention in New York City.

As I said, the premise and the plot are quite good and convoluted. Just when you think you have the whole thing figured out Mr. Patrick throws another monkey wrench into the deal and you're off in another direction. However, I had a hard time finishing this book. Mr.Patrick is a very low-key writer and at times the writing fails to generate the excitement the plot calls for. It's not a bad book, far from it, but it didn't grip me with the same intensity of say a James Lee Burke novel.

This book is unlike Patrick other two books. I think I spotted some of what Patrick read in the years since his last book. It has influences of The Hot Zone (if Vincent is reading this: Your dedication to Richard...was that Richard Preston, the author of The Hot Zone?), some Clancy and, of course, Patricks' previous novels. Excellent!

I question Mr. Patrick's research not to mention his editors. There is nothing worse than reading along at a fast clip and hitting a speed bump, such as finding a sentence where a young Italian boy is saying goodnight to his elderly Italian neighbor by saying "Buena notte" A serious literary speed bump, especially for something as basic as 'goodnight'! AND...A Spanish-speaking man who received a childhood nickname because he was skinny would probably not call himself 'Flocko'. Flaco, maybe, but Flocko? I doubt it. And an Italian-speaking bank robber, who the plot reveals learned Spanish in prison, overhears a conversation in Spanish where someone says that the 'cosas' are in upstate New York. He recounts the conversation to his partner, saying he wasn't sure what the word 'cosas' meant. Well , if he knew some Spanish, as we were told a few chapters earlier, he would have no problem with this word. And as if that isn't ridiculous enough, cosas means the same thing in Italian as it does in Spanish. Apparently somebody was asleep on the job when this was in the edit stages. I found Smoke Screen to be entertaining, for the most part, although I do agree with one of the other customer reviews which complains about tangents in the plot, such as the Asian gang and the 'cosa nostra' and Russian mob stuff which is never really developed. It is a fun read. But not stellar.

I cannot believe I have lived and read as long as I have, and missed this author. I am extremely critical of those who write and are lazy -- that is, do not keep their charecters in charecter, force the plot, or take themselves too seriously. Vincent Patrick is like a surgeon -- he cuts cleanly through the entire novel, and his people are so real, you expect to walk into them when you leave the house. I especially loved the way he drew and maintained the charecter of his terrorist. I was reminded of my ethics classes and the slippery slope, this time into the comfort of American technology. Please treat yourself to this delightfully written piece, so we can convince Patrick to keep his pen in hand!

I'd read the Pope of Greenwich Village years ago, but I'd forgotten what a kick ass writer this guy is. This new novel manages to wrap all kinds of crazy elements--Cuban terrorists, a fake jewel heist, a killer virus--around one tight wound plot. Terrific!

This is an impossible scenario that holds your interest from cover to cover. Vicent Patrick has given us a well researched, clearly developed page-turner that makes you think of Tom Clancy and James Michener in it's intricate but beautifully documented presentation. As a chronicler of New York street life,Patrick has ventured into uncharted waters and navigated in a manner that has you trying to cast the film version as you read. The plot, which combines international biological warfare, and jewel heist and a hostage situation does not let up for a single page, and the only criticism could be that so much information appears on each page that an overage reader, such as myself, finds himself re-reading certain segments in order to preserve the continuity.

another book? His novels are some of the best I've ever read and though his writing is years between works, I eagerly await the next one. So when is the next one coming already?

Top notch thriller, mystery. It is very realistic and true to its subject matter. One mistake is on page 223 at the top, where it refers to taking a Glock pistol off safety. Glocks have no safety in the conventional sense, and there is nothing to take off. The only safety is the unique trigger, which is an automatic safety of sorts. This is my first time to read a book by Mr. Patrick, and it will not be my last.

Biological warfare here in the US? It's a distinct possibility, and this novel plays upon that fear with plausible characters and a thrill-a-minute story line. Like any good book, this one will run you through a gamut of emotions. The ending is particularly satisfying, too. Why not 5 stars? Because unnecessary elements (the Chinese mafia, stake-out agents, and others) are introduced and are truly unnecessary to the story line. Still, highly recommended.

In the middle of the night, the four thieves quietly break into Manhattan's exclusive Montclair Hotel. One of them, Frank Belmonte, easily opens the safety deposit boxes that store millions of dollars worth of jewels owned by the hotel's occupants. However, the perfect crime falls apart when several individuals suddenly arrive at the hotel. The four criminals hold these new arrivals as hostages.

Unknown to Frank is that his three associates have a different agenda than walking off with ten million dollars worth of jewels. The other trio works for the CIA, trying to stop Castro's plot to use a deadly virus to force an end to the American economic embargo. They must make this incident seem more like a robbery gone awry, than a US government sanctioned mission. Thus, the appearance of Frank as a team member as they perform their scenario to capture the Cuban expected to deploy the airborne virus.

SMOKE SCREEN lives up to its name as readers enjoy an entertaining, twisting thriller. The action-packed story line never eases up for a moment as confrontation after confrontation speeds it along to an exciting climax. The characters are fully developed, and their reactions and motives seem authentic. The characters turn Vincent Patrick's novel into must reading by anyone who takes pleasure from a non-stop, believable thriller, one that is totally impossible to predict.

Harriet Klausner