A NOBLE TRUTH

A disgraced psychic stumbles onto a conspiracy in Mix’s thriller.

Noble Gareth discovered he was a psychic at age 6, when he foresaw a plane crash in his hometown of Lockerbie, Scotland (“His visions were brief flashes, isolated moments in time”). Treated as a curiosity as he grew, Noble eventually became a psychic consultant for businesses and government agencies until an investigation gone sour shredded his professional reputation. An old friend named Sophie Walsh, now an inspector with Police Scotland, throws him a lifeline when she seeks his help to find a missing biochemist. Using his abilities, Noble gleans the location where the murdered scientist is to be found. Even after fulfilling his assignment, Noble and Sophie continue to investigate the scientist’s murder off the books. They determine that he was killed because he’d realized that the revolutionary flu vaccine he’d developed would cause infertility in half the world’s population. The vaccine draws the attention of a tech billionaire, a major stockholder in the company, who’s a proponent of eugenics, the science of improving human genetics. The billionaire and a handful of like-minded powerful men conspire to bring the vaccine to the global market, with bodies dropping along the way. Noble, Sophie, and their allies—some faithful and others questionable—face an uphill battle to keep that from happening. Mix has crafted a very topical novel that compellingly addresses issues such as climate change, dwindling resources, and class conflict. (There’s no better modern villain than the oligarch.) The author deserves credit for not overly relying upon Noble’s psychic talents: He and Sophie solve the case using such traditional methods as deduction and research (luck is also their friend, as their goals align with those of some influential, self-interested titans accustomed to working in the shadows). This engaging narrative will inspire readers to ponder who truly benefits from purported miracle drugs.

A thought-provoking work that succeeds on the strength of its well-intentioned protagonists.