The Hidden Assassins

The Hidden Assassins
Robert Wilson
Harcourt, Inc.
ISBN: 0151012393
Non-Fiction, Mystery
Reviewed by John R. Clark

This is not an easy read, but that is by no means an indication that it isn't good; it is. In fact, it is very good and will reward the patient reader by immersing them in a challenging plot that includes many of the elements we worry about in the real world of today. Three things make this a book for careful and intelligent readers; attention to detail, the locale in a foreign country and the number of sub-plots that accompany the main story.
When it opens, Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon has just been pulled into the investigation of a homicide. The crime is complicated by the fact that the victim has been mutilated by being scalped and having his hands amputated and his face burned off with acid. No sooner does the investigation start and the painstaking work of identifying where the homicide might have taken place begin, so the victim might be identified, then a massive explosion occur.
The detonation levels an eight story apartment building. The story immediately gets another complication when investigators learn there was a mosque in the basement. Was it an accidental explosion, triggered by terrorists building a bomb in the basement mosque, or were the faithful worshiping there targets of an anti-Moslem group? Add in sub-plots including a couple worried about selling their extensive property holdings as the bomb derails the market, loves gone awry because of deep-seated psychological trauma and flagrant infidelity as well as the unbearable anguish of a father who has lost his wife and son in the explosion and you have plenty of grist for the intelligent mystery lover.
This will be a welcome addition to library mystery collections.