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DEATH MATCH, by Lincoln Child, is a modern cautionary tale in the spirit of Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and/or 1984 by George Orwell. Like Alice, readers plunge into a netherworld of super computers that are fed the intimate feelings and romantic desires of the men and women who seek help. This information, kept shrouded in absolute secrecy, is analyzed, psychologized and then preeminently and permanently remembered by the mega-technological forces that were created to keep a company named "Eden" in the matchmaking business. But unlike the matchmakers of the past, this maven, whose job it is to "pick a perfect pair," is a computer named "Liza," who is transmogrified and anthropomorphized into a contemporary "Big Brother" as an acceptable ever presence. The "creation of a perfect couple" is attained by tweaking a bit here and a bit there with echoes of Dr. Frankenstein screaming over his "Monster." But the happy couples live in ignorant bliss.
"Technology. Today, it's used to make our lives easier, longer, and more comfortable. But what if technology could do something even more profound? What if it could bring completion, bring utter fulfillment? Imagine computer technology so advanced it could reconstruct --- virtually --- your own personality, the essence of what makes you unique … the inmost needs that not even you may be aware of … a digital infrastructure so robust it contains [your] personality construct --- with its countless unique facets and characteristics --- along with those of many, many other people. Imagine an artificial intelligence so profound it could compare your construct with the multitudes of others, and --- in an hour, a day, a week --- find that one person, that sole individual, [who would be] your perfect match. Your ideal soul mate, uniquely fitted by personality, background, interests, countless other benchmarks to be your other half. No bind dates, … no singles parties, … no evenings wasted on incompatibility. Rather, a proprietary system of profound sophistication. This system is now. And the company is Eden."
This is the subliminal message that repeats itself over and over and over when prospective applicants enter the lobby of the Manhattan skyscraper that houses Eden … it's the mantra that attracts thousands of people who are in search of a soul mate; the yin to their yang. Since they have already sent in their one thousand dollar entrance fee, they are primed and ready to hear these things overtly or covertly, and they are more than eager to believe them. They have tried other means to find a perfect life partner, and now, for the price of the non-refundable application fee, they get to spend a day subjected to a battery of tests, from simple to very complicated.
If they become eligible by meeting all of Eden's protocols, a check in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars will buy them a ticket on the "love train." Their personality profiles along with their DNA and genetic history float around in the mega-pool with the other candidates. All of the "clients" have agreed to Eden's strict rules of secrecy and are certain they will reap the benefits of the scientists who have determined a specific threshold of matching variables to declare a fit between two candidates. Every year, more and more people pass through their doors with the hopes and dreams of finding their perfect "other." All of this is a very big, very secret and sometimes very dangerous business.
The "service [they are buying] does not end on the day [the couples are brought] together. There is a mandatory follow-up session with one of [Eden's] counselors, scheduled three months later … and after six months; couples are requested to join encounter groups with other Eden couples. The ideal union between two people … [rests on the] computer intelligence [garnered from the testing process and] compares roughly one million variables from each of … client to those of other clients, looking for a match."
The company's reputation has burgeoned because of its success in fulfilling the love connection of hundreds of thousands of people. Richard Silver --- reclusive, eccentric, who lives in the three level penthouse atop his company's majestic building --- has designed such tight security measures that nobody can get in or out without triggering some kind of alarm. Teams of uniformed agents patrol the halls and know who is where and why. For three years everything has been more than perfect.
Then tragedy suddenly strikes. One of the "supercouples" is found dead in their Arizona home, an "unquestionable" double suicide. Edwin Mauchly, second-in-command, is ordered to find the best investigator to unravel the mystery of the two deaths. What in the world would prompt the perfect couple, living the perfect life, clearly deeply in love and the parents of a new baby, to kill themselves? Or were they murdered? And if it's murder, who picked this couple and why? Robbery was not a motive; nothing in the house was touched. Business and money were not a problem. Everything was paid on time, and kidnapping obviously was not the motive. So a mystery is born out of two deaths in paradise.
Enter Dr. Christopher Lash, "a psychologist specializing in family relationships, particularly marital relationships. The book [he] published … Congruency, was a remarkable study on the subject." The chairman of Eden's board of directors, Mr. Lelyveld, explains that they decided to bring Lash in to their ultra-secret environment because "first, [they] want an impartial person to look into the matter. And second … [his] prior occupation. Before [he] went into private practice … [Lash was a] forensic psychologist with the FBI, part of the Behavioral Science team operating out of Quantico … [which means he] retain[s] behind-the scenes access to places, people, information. [He] could undertake such an investigation with great discretion." In order to understand how the evaluation process works, and to use the inside information from the dead couple's profiles, Lash enters the program as if he were really applying for a partner. He decides to be totally honest with all of his interrogators and is summarily rejected. Still, he is driven to solve the current crisis among Eden's "perfectcouples."
But Lash is nursing his own demons and personal losses as he slowly infiltrates the inner circles of Eden as his investigation into the lives of the dead couple progresses. The more he learns about them the less he sees of anything that would lead them to kill themselves. Then a second Super Couple is found dead in an obvious suicide pact. This is the catalyst that brings Lash to the inner sanctum, the most private and deeply hidden areas of Eden --- a place open to a handful of people who think they have the keys to the kingdom. But things start to move very quickly, and what appeared to be a superbly built and functioning company is now falling apart.
To say any more about the events in DEATH MATCH would not be fair to readers and fans of Lincoln Child. His canny ability to grab readers and keep their attention is a constant in the plotting, setting, dialogue and characters. He is a master of the tease who makes one not want to put his books down. Timely and fast-paced, this novel may very well be a map to how couples meet, fall in love and marry; perhaps the future is now!
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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