THE SWITCH

Reichwein’s (A Different Kind of Fire & Fury, 2018) fictional thriller features real-life conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer as a character who teams up with an FBI agent.

FBI Agent Maria Quintana-Deon is on the scene after a devastating explosion at Cellular Telecom &Telephone Communications in Santa Fe, New Mexico. “Comrade Angela,” the military commander of the Peruvian terrorist group Shining Path, takes credit for the bombing on the group’s behalf in an email to Laura, adding that they have also abducted CT&T CEO Tom Yust. For Yust’s safe return, the group demands $100 million and the head of the Los Lobos drug cartel. For good measure, Shining Path’s operatives free their incarcerated member Sandra Ochoa Ramos from her prison transport. After tracking the group to Peru, Maria gets help from Laura, Drug Enforcement Administration agent Don Lopez, and Maria’s trained German shepherd, Lucky. Maria soon learns of her surprising link to Sandra, which also connects to Maria’s estranged father, DEA agent Juan Quintana. Unfortunately, Comrade Angela, Sandra, and others are well aware that Maria is chasing them. It turns out that Shining Path has a U.S. agent on its side, and they may target someone Maria loves, such as her mother, Jeannie, in Santa Fe. Although Reichwein’s tale appears intended to launch a Laura-centric series, Laura shares lead duties with Maria here. The book’s cast includes some memorable players, such as the ferocious Sandra, who totes a pink AK-47. The story keeps up a rapid pace with succinct chapters told from the first-person perspectives of myriad characters, although these sometimes confusingly drift into third-person. There’s also occasional far-right social commentary, as when Laura fights her ban from social-networking service Jitter; this mirrors the real-life Loomer’s permanent Twitter ban, which occurred in 2018 after she directed a series of anti-Islamic tweets at U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. (In the book, Jitter is said to be “partially owned by members of the Muslim Brotherhood.”) According to Reichwein’s website, “part of the proceeds of the novel will be donated to [Loomer’s] journalistic work.”

An energetic novel featuring an antagonistic public figure.