Eight of Swords

Rickard could have had a different life if his anti-war mother had not written that letter to his draft board. He became a member of the Weathermen. 30 years ago people thought he was buried in the rubble of a building that exploxed and burned. He has been on the run, and for the past half dozen years he has been a tarot card reader at a street stand in Berkeley using the alias Warren Ritter. Events have complicated his life, and he has come to people's attention. It is partly a psychological drama as he deals with his bad dreams and the voices within. He has become bipolar. It is partly a mystery when someone is killed, and the unknown killer is trying to frame him for the murder. He has the police and FBI poking their noises into his life. He is afraid of what they may find. The novel becomes a page turner as events unfold and he tries to carry out his own investigation. He can be a hero or a villain, but either way he is getting unwanted attention, and his past is catching up to him. I would note that the scene with the dog is a classic. I wonder if the author actually researched this.

EIGHT OF SWORDS is a good story that moves smartly along. It's also a thoughtful novel, and the protagonist, Warren Ritter, is one of the most intriguing characters I've met in a long time. And as much as anything, probably, I was fascinated by a look into a fugitive's life. Warren is, in his words, "the last revolutionary guerrilla out there." He's been on the lam for 30 years but has settled into a reasonably comfortable life as a tarot reader on a street corner in Berkeley. For total privacy he climbs an old oak tree in a cemetery to make phone calls. He thinks his tombstone will read,"You can run, but you cannot hide." Warren is not aging gracefully. He still hates "pigs" even though one of his friends is a cop. He still has contempt for the feds. He takes pills to control his mood swings. But he has a sense of humor and a kind, if carefully guarded, heart. I liked him a lot. Warren has several false identities, with a healthy bank account under each name. He keeps a residence in Las Vegas so he can get a driver's license without a photo or a fingerprint. He has a survivor's instinct for smelling danger, playing dumb, fading into a crowd. Even so, his life is like the deck of cards he uses. There's a certain order to the tarot, and if a card falls the wrong way the whole deck could follow. The catalyst for Warren's potential downfall is a reading he does for a teenaged girl from the 'burbs. In short order, she is kidnapped, Warren is set up for a murder, and his sister Tara suddenly shows up on his street corner and recognizes him. Warren's impulse is to move on but Tara drops an offhand bit of family news that will keep him in Berkeley. It's the proverbial rock and a hard place. If he stays he has to investigate kidnapping and murder to clear himself of suspicion without blowing his cover. Fortunately, he has interesting friends. There's Sally, a paraplegic computer hacker who has a personal beef with the government and takes a special interest in security systems. In Warren's words, "She looked friendly and harmless, and was the most dangerous woman I knew." Her hobby is hacking Northern California law enforcement computers. Sally's fees are commensurate with the risks. Need a couple of files from the local PD? No problem. That'll be two thousand dollars please. There's also Mad Max Valdez who runs a top-notch surveillance service. As Max explains his success, "... nobody notices you if you've got brown skin. Being invisible must be good for something!" Being invisible is an art form with these people but Warren makes one careless -- and colossal -- mistake that will bring the feds swarming down on them. How Warren exacts justice, works his way out of the mess and faces up to emotional attachments that have made him vulnerable kept me turning the pages.

This book is terrific fun for those of us boomers who spent the latter portion of the 60's protesting the military industrial establishment (and correctly so as it has morphed into an outrage to anyone who values the health of our society and the enviornment). Warren is a wonderful protagonist and the other characters are sufficiently colorful, complex and conflicted, making this a delightful, fast paced, easy to read, well written tale of murder and mahem. I would deduct a half star for the fact that the mystery itself is somewhat predictable, but for a first novel and begining of a series, I cannot complain. The rather serious political undercurrents and jaded view of present day life are deftly handled, and I am looking forward to the further adventures of Warren Ritter, whatever identity he chooses to assume.

Berkeley tarot-card reader "Warren Ritter" thinks that the tarot card reading he is doing for teenager Heather Wellington is no different from any of the other semi-jive tarot readings he typically does. Warren has second thoughts, though, when that evening he sees that Heather was kidnapped shortly after her reading with him. As the story quickly develops, Warren is contacted for help by Heather's mother and finds himself involved in the search for the missing girl. The plot kicks up another notch when Warren finds himself being framed for the murder of Heather's mother. The plot in this first mystery by David Skibbins was well-done, with a satisfying conclusion to the main story of kidnapping and murder. In addition, there were a number of subplots which added to my enjoyment of this story. The protagonist "Warren Ritter" is himself a fugitive terrorist who has been hiding from both the police and his former terrorist colleagues for thirty years. "Warren" faked his death in a bomb explosion thirty years before the time of the story. Warren Ritter is also afflicted with a manic-depressive personality, and the story delves a bit into the highs and lows he experiences. Finally, author Skibbins paints a realistic picture of the Berkeley area in which the story is set. The story leaves plenty of unanswered questions to look at in the next book in this series. I look forward to reading more about Warren Ritter and his quirky Berkely colleaagues.

And it's easy to see why....Skibbins is a writer to watch, with a wonderfully compact prose style. This first book in a presumed series sets the table with a colorful, eccentric protagonist bearing a checkered past. But despite all his baggage, you feel GOOD about Warren Ritter! High octane plotting pushes the story line. This is a book to bear in mind when this year's best first mystery season rolls around. Do check it out!