- Home
- GENERAL FICTION REVIEWS
- The Counsel of the Cunning Reviewed by Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures.com
The Counsel of the Cunning Reviewed by Norm Goldman of Bookpleasures.com
- By Norm Goldman
- Published December 6, 2021
- GENERAL FICTION REVIEWS
Norm Goldman
Reviewer & Author Interviewer, Norm Goldman. Norm is the Publisher & Editor of Bookpleasures.com.
He has been reviewing books for the past twenty years after retiring from the legal profession.
To read more about Norm Follow Here
Author: Steven C. Harms
Publisher: Suspense Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-578-93379-5
Viceroy ponders a few
opportunities where he can use his detective skills. These are put
aside when a former wealthy United States Senator, Jürgen Sandt,
shows up on his doorsteps. Sandt makes a terrific offer for Viceroy
to come and work for him with his colleagues Regina Cortez and Trevor
“Silk” Moreland. They would function as Sandt’s own detective
agency and work from Sandt’s estate.
Their assignment would
be to find Sandt’s son, Bertram. He vanished without a trace ten
years ago while on a mission trip in the jungles of Guatemala.
Although there is merely circumstantial evidence, Sandt is convinced
that Bertram is still alive.
We learn that someone had
recently left a pouch that was pinned on the gate of his estate.
Viceroy knows from Sandt that he gave his son a bookmark before
boarding the plane for Guatemala. The satchel belonged to someone
named Theo Gandy, and it contained the damaged bookmark.
Gandy
had been dispatched to Guatemala to find Bertram, and he likewise has
perished. The bookmark was damaged, but a part remained with a cross
and scripture writings around the edges containing a few legible
words, notably, “Therefore go” and “Spirit.”
Viceroy
arranges with someone he knows to place him on a cargo plane to sneak
into Guatemala without detection. The aircraft will include a small
group of passengers who are part of a mission team to help the poor
and evangelize. The missionaries would not be aware of his
presence.
Little does Viceroy, Regina, and Silk know with the
events that follow what awaits them when they agree to take on the
assignment. Their search for Sandt’s missing son will involve two
continents, and will include a significant drug operation, murder, a
dangerous plot that will affect millions of people, mixed in with
billions of dollars.
The team is led into territory that
intersects with a potent weird drug called “screed,” the most
potent narcotic on the planet. It is a kind of berry, and you are
immediately hooked on it when you inhale it.
Into the picture
is a devious character, who has hatched an ingenious plan where a
world-class scientist in biomedical engineering is kidnapped. The
scientist’s passion is molecular manipulation.
While in
confinement, she is compelled to develop a unique drug that would
help “screed” addicts tolerate their addiction but never cure it.
The economic importance of this new drug is limitless, especially if
you can have a pharmaceutical company gain exclusive worldwide
distribution rights. The business model was to hook those of wealth
and then ransom their life. Pay up or die.
To help him in his
search for Bertram, Sandt directs Viceroy to approach Cesar Quintero,
a highly regarded Guatemalan social and unofficial political and
industrial lobbyist in Washington.
Supposedly, Quintero would
facilitate the team bypassing traditional channels and keep the
search undercover. The challenge on Viceroy’s mind concerning
Quintero is his reliability? Is he somehow entangled in the
disappearance of Bertram? `
When Viceroy meets with Quintero,
he brings up the name “The Ghost of Guatemala.” Quintero chuckles
and points out to Viceroy that urban folklore has very little
relevance on the search for Bertram. He would waste his time to even
contemplate that such a character exists or is implicated in
Bertram’s disappearance.
What we have is a haunting and
bloodcurdling story where Harms has skillfully woven two strong
plot lines that we believe in every detail and landscape. There is a
great deal to challenge readers to piece together what is happening
and figure out how the dots will be connected. As the stakes become
higher, Harms summons excellent tension and suspense requiring close
attention. The unthinkable is alarmingly plausible, which invites
questioning and the “what if” scenario.
The insertion of
several diverse characters into the plot requires a fair amount of
concentration to keep them sorted out and figure out their respective
roles in the plot twists.