Thomas Kilbride’s schizophrenia causes delusions in which
the CIA, FBI, and President Clinton speak with him—without benefit of any
communication devices—asking for his help. Convinced that a cataclysmic,
world-wide computer virus is about to wipe out all electronic maps, Thomas
stares for hours at a program called Whirl360 that shows street-level views of
every street in every city in every country. With a savant’s ability to recall
everything he has seen, Thomas has committed each map to memory against the day
when he is called upon to help his country re-create what has been lost.
Thomas’s brother, Ray, arrives in Promise Falls, New York,
to attend the funeral of their father, who was killed in a riding mower
accident. Ray indulges Thomas with his map hobby, until one day when Thomas
points out something he’s seen in an upstairs window of a New York City apartment building: a face with
a plastic bag stretched tightly over it. Thomas is convinced that a crime has
been committed. Ray makes a few calls but gets nowhere, particularly when he
explains that his schizophrenic brother is behind the questions. Finally he
travels to New York
to find the building and ask a few questions.
Thus sets in motion a huge cat-and-mouse game that threatens
to take down one of the biggest names in New
York state politics. The stakes are serious enough
that those involved will stop at nothing to keep their secrets from being
exposed.
I loved this book. I thought the premise was brilliant,
particularly for those of us who have spent any time looking at Google Earth or
any other street-level mapping program. I’ve often wondered, when I look at
programs like that, whether the people in the view knew they were being filmed,
and wondered what would happen if the camera caught a crime being committed. My
only complaint about the book was that Barclay includes a secondary plot
regarding child abuse. It’s unnecessary and dilutes the power of his main
narrative. But in a story this good, having too many plots is really a petty
criticism. This was a great read.
