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The members of the International Thriller Writers came up with a unique idea to promote their organization as well as show their solidarity and expertise in doing what they do - writing and promoting thrillers. The plan? Jeffery Deaver would write the first chapter of this new work and a group of authors would each contribute a new chapter in a round robin sort of way, with each one adding something new to move the story along, then, at the end, Jeffery Deaver would take everything that each chapter contributed and come up with the unenviable job of coming up with a chapter that solves all the loose ends and brings the story to a satisfying conclusion. This became THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT which was then followed by a sequel to which most of the original authors as well as some new ones which became THE COPPER BRACELET. This experiment was not unique in the least as it was done in 1931 by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and others in a book called THE FLOATING ADMIRAL. And most recently in the last decade with NAKED CAME THE MANATEE and NAKED CAME THE PHOENIX. The problem with the last two is that the book were written all in fun where authors would add a complicated twist to the story in order to try to mess up the next person that would work on the project. However, this was not the case with both THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT and THE COPPER BRACELET. Whether by happenstance or design what the ITW did was write a very good novel. In THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT I was impressed in how the authors took what they were strong at doing within their own novels and it enhanced the collaboration. In THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT, the death of a piano tuner and a possible forgery of a lost Frederic Chopin composition are the only keys in a possible terrorist act that may hit the United States. A former war crimes investigator named Harold Middleton is caught in the middle of all this. His family, as well as his former colleagues, are all in danger but each chapter comes at breakneck speed creating a rather good suspenseful novel. The COPPER BRACELET is a bit weaker than the other, but just as good involving a possible war between India and Pakistan unless Harold Middleton and his gang manage to find the information they need soon. Good work by great authors. Worth the read.
Reviewed by Angel L. Soto, January 2010
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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