Red Dragon by Thomas Harris, Bantam Books

This is a two star book.

Thomas Harris' Red Dragon is best known for introducing Hannibal Lecter. Maybe that is its proper place. The antagonist and protagonist are interesting, “troubled” characters. The book draws you along with anticipation of the next killing cycle until the redemptive influence of a woman's love ruptures the Red Dragon. For all the evident hard work Harris does, ultimately he skates on the ending – split personalities fighting with themselves. Made for TV movies don't even do that, well sometimes.

I do also want to point out a time/space continuum error. The FBI agent in Chicago packages Lecter's ad to the Red Dragon for shipment to Washington and suddenly we find out that in the distant future the agent will show the ad to his children during a tour of FBI Headquarters. That was an uncomfortable time shift. How did that make it into the book?


George Parker

The Shadow Factory by James Bamford, published by Doubleday

Following is a book review whose subject deserves attention.

The Shadow Factory by James Bamford, published by Doubleday

2.5 of 5 stars

If you didn't know the United States Government is listening to all you voice communications and reading all your emails and monitoring all the web sites you visit, then shame on you. Do you think the government didn't watch Arron Burr and other long before and after? Governments have always watched their own. Back in the day they use to go to the library and see what you were reading now it is easier to pull that information off the fiber optics the telecommunications industry charges you to use.

The Shadow Factory delineates the external and internal monitoring changes made post 9/11 by the various US alphabet agencies at the behest of the Bush administration. It has often been said by supporters of this type of broad reach surveillance that "If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." This is a book review so I won't argue that point but here is a link that will http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/government-might-know-youre-reading.

In the early parts of The Shadow Factory Bamford succeeds in presenting a story line that stands on solid ground and feels like fact. As the book progresses though the factual feel begins to slip away and we're left with what seems to be “water cooler talk.” I wish he had been able to maintain that earlier story strength.

For me the real success Bamford has is in portraying the poor management and often mismanagement of these various spy projects/systems. The incestuous moneyed relationships between government agencies and their contractors that he presents are enough to make Monsanto and the Department of Agriculture blush.

I recommend that you read the early sections of The Shadow Factory.

George W. Parker