FAKE TRUTH

4 stars out of 5

This is the second book I've read in the three-book (so far) series featuring writer Ian Ludlow and his research assistant Margo French, and it's every bit as delightful as I expected. As with the previous one, I chuckled my way through (with a couple of outright guffaws here and there). 

Most of those chuckles came by way of "ripped from the headlines" timeliness, although the author insists it wasn't intentional and he "really made this stuff up." Funniest to me, though, were the references to things gone by like some of the more inane James Bond movie plots and especially the old TV show "Match Game." First aired in 1962 - the year my husband and I got married and soon thereafter became regular viewers - the fill-in-the-blank answers from celebrity panelists were borderline risque, generating feigned shock and raucous laughter (probably canned) from the audience. In today's world? Well, if you want to know how far we've come, just watch a couple of episodes of "Family Feud." Yowser!

Back to the story, Ludlow knows the difference between fact and fiction, but somehow the plots he concocts for his series character, freelance superspy Clint Straker, manage to come true in real life. That hasn't gone unnoticed by the CIA, where the powers-that-be see great potential in tapping Ian and Margo as resources. At the beginning, the pair meet Wang Mei, a Chinese actress who claims to want asylum in the United States. Meanwhile, the Russians are busy running a troll farm to spread propaganda online in an effort to manipulate Americans.

Ian takes Wang on a TV show blitz that ends on a very conservative "news" show, where snarky host Dwight Edny hurls insults that, let's say, don't sit well with the Chinese beauty. When Ian falls victim to a bad case of writer's block while trying to conjure up his latest Straker book plot, Margo decides an investigation of the "accidental" death of a couple in Portugal may be just what the doctor ordered to kickstart Ian's creative streak. Following in the dead couple's footsteps brings some unexpectedly dangerous revelations (if not a spark or two of that aforementioned creativity). Meanwhile, back in the US of A, trouble is brewing on the illegal immigration front as Texas ranchers take up arms to stem the tide in true vigilante fashion - making a Mexican drug lord very unhappy (see what I mean about current events)?

Throughout it all, Ian and Margo try to avoid getting killed before he can finish his next book. Since this is a series, I don't think I'm letting the cat out of the bag by saying they make it to the end, but the devil is in the details. I will say, though, that I enjoyed every page and, in addition to thanking the publisher, via NetGalley, for a pre-release review copy, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

Question: "Is there nobody left we can trust?"

Answer: "Not on TV."

Fake Truth by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer, April 2020); 294 pp.)

KILLER THRILLER

4.5 stars out of 5

Improbable. Irreverent. Amusing. Fun characters. Those are among the words that popped into my mind as I read this well-written adventure "starring" writer Ian Ludlow and his very capable research assistant Margo French (the second in a series). Toss in a few zingers aimed at certain U.S. government leaders (a POTUS who is fond of Tweets that counter what other members of his cabinet say, for instance), and I was hooked from the git-go.

Ian is a successful writer of books featuring hulking Jack Reacher-like hero Clint Straker; in fact, a movie is in production in which an actor with Tom Cruise stature is [mis]cast in the lead role (with appropriate jabs about his inappropriateness similar to those author Lee Child has endured with the casting of Cruise as Reacher). The movie is being funded by a filthy rich Hong Kong businessman, mostly so his beautiful daughter can be the female star. Suddenly, he is kidnapped, and a top CIA official claims the Chinese did the dirty deed.

Problem is, the plots Ian dreams up for his books have a strange tendency to come true in real life; in this instance, his story involves an ongoing conspiracy by the Chinese to take over the United States. And guess what? The Chinese, who really are in the final stages of just such a takeover, get wind of his writing. Thinking Ian therefore must be some kind of spy charged with undoing their plan, they set out to thwart Ian before he can thwart them - scrutinizing every word Ian speaks to identify secret codes (which gets pretty funny). 

Ian, needless to say, is oblivious (at least at first) to the reality of his fiction - but the CIA is not. They try, without success, to recruit him as an undercover agent. Taking a different tack, they follow Ian and Margo to Hong Kong, where the Straker movie is being filmed. Their efforts to keep the pair safe are only marginally successful, resulting in a few wild chases and near misses (these, too, can be humorous; at one point, for instance, Margo, a lesbian, successfully fends off would-be killers with her dildo). 

And so it goes right up to the end. This is a series, so of course all's well that ends well, at least for Ian and Margo. The whole thing is a clever romp, and I'm already looking forward to the pair's next adventure. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review an advance copy.  

Killer Thriller by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer, February 2019); 277 pp.