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THE DEVIL'S HALO
Author: Fox, Chris
Review Date: OCTOBER 24, 2005
Publisher:Hutchinson (471 pp.)
Price (paperback): £10.99
Publication Date: June 2005
ISBN (paperback): 0-09-179499-4
Category: AUTHORS
Classification: FICTION
A hair-raising spy thriller chock full of plot twists, paranoia and political intrigue.
As in his first novel (L.U.C.I. in the Sky, 2001), Fox enlists the services of industrial spy Terry and rocket scientist Maria Weston, now husband and wife, to defend U.S. interests against a virulent threat from extremists in the newly-formed Greater European Union. Set in the near future, the story unfolds at a time when Germany has gone bankrupt, NATO is dead and the former EU, led by France, has incorporated Russia to tackle the U.S. as a military and economic superpower. Anti-Americanism is rampant, with the greatest bone of contention being the American goal to dominate space. The trouble begins when the digitized master of a film extolling U.S. military prowess is stolen, and Terry is hired by Hollywood’s most powerful producer to retrieve it. Because the film was encrypted using the same technology designed to protect U.S. military assets, Maria, who happens to be the daughter of the CEO of a large space contractor, soon follows Terry to Russia to use her unparalleled knowledge of quantum theory and some nifty surveillance equipment of her own invention to unravel what swiftly proves to be a much larger plot. The warp-drive action—space travel, grim assassinations and continent-hopping—as the Westons try to outwit their pursuers and convince the American authorities of imminent peril, will certainly keep readers hooked. (Jerry Bruckheimer, take note.) But the narrative also serves up a thematic stew that should leave Americans—particularly the defenders of “freedom fries”—with ample food for thought.
The sky’s the limit in this tour de force thriller of 21st-century espionage and technological warfare.
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Copyright 2005 Kirkus Reviews
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 | Talk Like a Man: Robert B. Parker Tribute
January 15, 2010 - I still remember the first time I heard Spenser's voice ring out in the opening chapter of The Godwulf Manuscript (1973), as he razzes the college president who's trying to hire him. What's this guy's problem? I thought. Why does he have such an attitude? The attitude, I soon learned, had deep roots...Part of it was a temperamental similarity to Spenser's creator, Robert B. Parker, who died on Jan. 18th at age 77.
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