WATCHLIST: A Serial Thriller
Jeffery Deaver and Others
Vanguard Press
Thriller
ISBN: 9781593155599
The idea behind the two short novels that comprise WATCHLIST --- THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT and THE COPPER BRACELET --- was truly groundbreaking. Take the concept of a somewhat shadowy organization called the Volunteers (headed up by a late middle-aged, ex-war crimes investigator named Harold Middleton), whose purpose is to hunt down war criminals and prevent new crimes from happening. Open and close a book with chapters written by Jeffery Deaver, the creator of the concept, then let the world’s top thriller authors each contribute a chapter, taking the story in a never-ending set of twists and turns from beginning to end.
There have been similar projects --- though not quite of this scale --- done in the mystery, romance and science fiction genres, but what is truly groundbreaking here is the manner in which THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT was released. Not only was it an original audiobook (one that earned a 2008 Audie Award for Audiobook of the Year), it also released a chapter at a time on a weekly basis, thus truly earning classification as a “serial thriller.” Not content to rest on those considerable laurels, Deaver, accompanied by a stellar cast of thriller authors, did it again in 2009 with THE COPPER BRACELET. WATCHLIST brings both works together for the first time in print, the result demonstrating that the experiment works as well, if not better, in the traditional book medium.
THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT, as one might guess from the title, is concerned with classical music, at least peripherally. Middleton is bequeathed with what appears to be an original handwritten score composed by Frederic Chopin that heretofore has never seen the light of day. The score is both more and less than it seems, however. Practically from the moment it passes into Middleton’s possession, it begins to set off a chain reaction of events that puts Middleton --- as well as his pregnant daughter --- in terrible danger. He barely arrives in Washington, D.C. from Warsaw before he is on the run, accused of murdering two policemen even as he is pursued by a shadowy group of thugs who will stop at nothing to get their hands on the document in his possession.
The only people whom Middleton can truly trust are his fellow Volunteers, who themselves are hamstrung by government officials who seem to be operating at cross purposes to them. Events reach a climax when the work in Middleton’s possession is scheduled to be performed by a young woman who is a virtuoso on the violin. Her performance of the long-lost work will herald either a new cultural era or provide the signal for the opening of an unthinkable disaster.
While THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT is more of a plot-driven work, THE COPPER BRACELET focuses more on Middleton and the personalities of the characters involved, without detriment to the pacing, which, as with its predecessor, moves along at breakneck speed. As indicated by the title, the Copper Bracelet is the focus of Middleton and the Volunteers as they race to prevent what appears to be the sabotage of a major construction project that is fraught with adverse political ramifications. The key to the plot seems to be contained in the drawings of a bracelet worn by an assassin, and its discovery sets off a chase that leads from Paris to Moscow to Kashmir.
Middleton, aided by the Volunteers --- one of whom is his former lover --- has few other allies, and betrayals and death are his constant companions. What he discovers is that the plot involves far more than he originally imagined, with ramifications that will extend beyond a disputed border and across the world.
A great deal of the fun involved in reading the novellas that comprise WATCHLIST is the experience of having your favorite thriller writers --- Lee Child, Gayle Lynds, P. J. Parrish, David Hewson, John Miller and Brett Battles, among many others --- treading far outside of their comfort zones and riffing in unfamiliar territory. It’s kind of like walking into a small club and finding several of your favorite musicians taking successive solos around a common theme. The plots are fast-paced and the paragraphs fly by so fast that a seat belt should be included in the binding. It’s an experience you do not want to miss, not only for the names with which you might be familiar, but also for the ones that you don’t know.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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