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John Smith used to work for at least one of the "alphabet" groups in Washington, DC. He was recruited because of his unique ability: he is a telepath. This has rarely, if ever, been a source of joy for him. It's impossible for John to tune out ALL the white noise of other people's thoughts. His handler teaches him how to control his ability, and demonstrates to John just how strong this ability is. Not only can he read minds, he can change perceptions in the minds of others.
John is hired by Everett Sloan to locate, retrieve (if possible), and erase the algorithm Sloan uses to make his data mining company the richest in the world. Sloan believes former employee Eli Preston has stolen this intellectual property. He wants John to wipe Preston's mind of the information so that Preston can't recreate it. It is truly amazing what vast amounts of money can buy. Sloan has enough money to give John what John wants: a 99-year-lease on a remote island with absolutely nobody else on it. Peace and quiet whenever John wants or needs it.
John is not prepared for Preston's reaction to seeing John. Preston tries to have him killed. Immediately. John could deal with this, but there's a complication (of course). Sloan has sent him in with a handler, Kelsey. Preston has to kill Kelsey as well, because she can provide a connection between Preston and John. They manage to escape; Preston then uses all the resources at his command to wipe out bank accounts, track them, etc. Life gets very interesting for Kelsey and John.
Farnsworth knows how to write a thriller. The pacing is all that anyone could ask for. The setting isn't all that important, and yet it serves whatever purpose is required at the appropriate moment. All his characters are flawed, some more than others. There are no perfectly good or bad people in John Smith's world, including John. My only real problem with KILLFILE is the total lack of diversity. Oh, there are a few Hispanics and a few people from Afghanistan/Iran/etc. It's kind of hard to write about recent history in current war zones (both military and otherwise) without including them. I find it hard to believe that there are no people of color in the places that John Smith lives, works, and/or travels. Seriously?? In spite of that, KILLFILE is a thriller that will suck a reader in and spit that reader back out some 300 pages later with minimal complaints.
§ I have been reading and reviewing mystery fiction for over a quarter of a century and read broadly within just about all genres and sub-genres. I have been a preliminary judge for the Malice Domestic/St. Martin’s Press Best First Traditional Mystery Novel Contest for at least 25 years. I live in Northern lower Michigan with my spousal unit, one large cat, and 2 fairly small dogs. My Sherlockian (BSI) nom-de-plume is VR; my license plate is BSI VR
Reviewed by PJ Coldren, August 2016
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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