Cape Disappointment: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Key Phrases: white haired woman, Coast Guard, Deborah Driscoll, Bert Slezak (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Last seen in Catfish Café (1998), Thomas Black finds his memory playing tricks on him at the start of Emerson's dark and disturbing 12th novel to feature the Seattle PI. As Black recuperates in the hospital after being severely wounded in an explosion, he can't remember if his lawyer wife, Kathy Birchfield, is alive or dead. Kathy was to have been a passenger on a chartered plane, along with Sen. Jane Sheffield, that crashed into the sea with no survivors. In flashbacks, Black and Birchfield work on opposing senatorial campaigns until the crash eliminates Birchfield and the blast injures Black. Twin brothers, Elmer Snake Slezak and Bert Slezak, play key roles—Snake protects Black; Bert, a former CIA sniper and confirmed conspiracy nut, tries to persuade the PI that the plane crash was no accident. Conspiracy buffs should enjoy this thriller with its references to real-life events like 9/11 that some consider coverups, while Thomas Black fans will welcome his return after a long hiatus. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

It’s been nearly a decade since Emerson’s last Thomas Black novel, and much has happened to the Seattle PI in the interim. He’s finally married longtime friend and then lover Kathy Birchfield, and the two have found a bantering Hepburn-Tracy groove, now tested by their own version of Adam’s Rib in which they find themselves working on opposite sides in Washington State’s heated senatorial election (Black doing investigative work for the Republican candidate, a former cop, while Birchfield is a key advisor to the Democratic incumbent). When a private plane crashes off Cape Disappointment near the Oregon-Washington border, the senator is killed and Birchfield is assumed dead, though her body isn’t found. Inconsolable, Black is drawn into believing a conspiracy theorist’s seemingly outlandish explanation and begins a solo investigation into what could be a massive government scheme to rig elections. Emerson makes good use of his highly charged political themes, playing on recent concern about election tampering to create an almost-believable scenario in which even a determined individual has little chance against an entrenched, quasi-governmental machine. A welcome return for a popular series. --Bill Ott

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (February 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 034549301X
• ISBN-13: 978-0345493019
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #518,068 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Black is back!, March 10, 2009

By	Lily Courthope - See all my reviews

After a 10-year hiatus, PI Thomas Black returns with the strongest entry yet in this series.

The story begins with Thomas in the hospital recovering from injuries received when a bomb exploded near a political candidate for whom Thomas was working. That candidate's opponent had been killed weeks earlier in an airplane crash that also took the life of Thomas's wife, Kathy. As Thomas tries to remember what happened from the time of the plane crash on, he also has to struggle with what is real and what is a product of his medication. This is a terrible oversimplification of a complex plot that is complemented by the book's complex structure.

Emerson's writing is strong and the plotting is air-tight. The grimness of fresh grief is offset by the humor and the genuine warmth of Thomas's character. The conspiracy theories introduced by one of the secondary characters are fascinating. The reader can choose to buy into them or choose to read them purely as imaginative fiction, but the way Emerson tightly connects his fiction to reality is bold and breathtaking, and best of all is that he pushes his readers to think about the possibilities. One of the things I've always liked about Emerson's leading characters, such as Thomas Black and Mac Fontana, is that they are not shy about their opinions, that they think for themselves, that they have an innate and healthy disdain for politicians, bankers, corporate bosses, and anyone else whose profession involves lying on a daily basis.

One of the points Emerson makes -- though he never beats the reader over the head with a message in favor of telling a ripping yarn -- is how investigative journalism is now controlled by a few large corporations. What that says about the future of truth in journalism and the lack of transparency in government is truly scary. And you don't have to be a wild-eyed conspiracy theorist to know what a bad idea it is to have a few rich people controlling the media.

Thomas's struggle to remember becomes a race to find the truth. And the truth may be something that will haunt him forever. Few thrillers grip me as emotionally as this one did, start to finish. I think this is Emerson's best book ever.

I'd like to add that I'm disappointed that some readers cannot separate reality from fiction. That a number of conspiracy theories are expounded by a flakey fictional character in the book does not mean that the author intends for the reader to accept them as fact. I do think the author says that as citizens we have a responsibility to not merely accept 'spin,' but to do our own research and reach our conclusions based on fact and not journalistic pablum and certainly not on fictional stories intended first and foremost to entertain. We all know, for example, that had the financial press done its job, had we as citizens insisted that they do their job, parts of the economic recession we are now enduring could have been avoided, i.e. the bank failures and the Madoff larceny. I personally don't buy into too many conspiracy theories, but as a former employee of the federal government I also know there is a great deal of interesting information that never makes into the public domain for reasons that sometimes make sense and sometimes don't. That aside, I still think 'Cape Disappointment' is a tremendous story, one of the best thrillers I've read in the last couple of years.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Conspiracy Theories, April 30, 2009

By	Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews

It would be easy to dismiss this novel based on its somewhat incredible plot. But then there have been revelations of torture and worse sponsored by the US government, so that the premise that some rogue or quasi-official federal agents used nefarious tactics including assassination and a plane crash to influence a U.S. Senate race in the State of Washington might not be so far-fetched. After all, conspiracy theories abound from the Kennedy assassination to 9/11, and while many if not most may seem absurd or far out, many make for a good story.

As does this novel, in which Thomas Black, a PI, and his wife, Kathy, find themselves on the opposite sides of the Senatorial campaign: she for the popular incumbent, he, although his sympathies lie with his candidate's opponent, works for the challenger, fulfilling a long-standing obligation. The incumbent is running far ahead in the polls, and Thomas' side runs a more and more negative campaign. Then, the Senator and her staff, including presumably Kathy, take off in a chartered plan as Thomas watches it take to the air, only to plunge head-long into the Pacific, with all passengers obviously dead.

Thomas, himself, is the victim of a bomb blast, but he recovers from serious wounds. Then he begins to investigate the plane crash, and the seemingly obvious may not be in fact the truth. If one can get beyond the incomprehensibility of the premise that murder and other dirty tricks can be a norm, this tightly written political suspense story makes for an exciting read. Certainly, it is original, and recommended.

1.0 out of 5 stars Too expensive!, October 16, 2009

By	Doris V. Baker "waybeyond" (Florence Oregon) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I really like Earl Emerson and have read ALL of his books. A new Thomas Black is a real treat to look forward to, but sorry I cannot order it just yet as the price is too high. I am an ardent supporter/member of the Kindle group which has pledged not to buy any book priced over $9.99, and this one is priced at $13.20. Hope the price comes down soon.