C-4
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $3.99
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- $3.99
Publisher Description
Recently returned from her assignment in Texas and still nursing an arm wounded by a gunman in Mexico, ATF Special Agent Pam Robinson learns that she is to hit the road again. A bomb attack in Cincinnati has all the earmarks of sabotage, but could it be a reprisal over a Chinese takeover bid? Or possibly both?
With each new revelation of clues, her assignment becomes more complicated. Her boss sees her as more than a forensic specialist, the top man in Cincinnati sees her as a threat to his fiefdom, and a co-worker sees her as a desirable romantic interest.
Things in Washington are little better. The Attorney General wants her out of the way, and the Secretary of Commerce just wants her out, period. If you have such high-caliber politicians after your scalp, you must be doing something right.
Balancing her personal life is almost as harrowing as balancing her professional responsibilities. She is assaulted by recollections of her domineering mother’s stern admonitions and melancholy memories of a brief but ill-fated love affair with a Texas Ranger. She must keep her focus on the tasks at hand, an intimidating challenge.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Poet, rapper, and actor Williams (The Dead Emcee Scrolls) explores the complex and violent present and history of the U.S. through the pop culture and oppression it creates in his sprawling and uneven new collection. From the book's first offering, Williams's words reveal their ability to fly and fall; "The Televisions Descended from Above" opens with stunning imagery "a curtain of light/ pours from the top/ of the screen" but ends with the trite declaration "I am a blood red pen./ I am this page." Williams expands the range of his formal chops throughout numerous poems, but too often they look and feel convoluted on the page. The book succeeds in parts of its second section and the entirety of its third when it takes the form of a film-in-verse; the highlight is a fictionalized account of the relationship between trumpeter Miles Davis and French singer Juliette Gr co, in which Williams presents brilliantly rendered moments of the couple's romance. Unfortunately, the book's flaws too often stand out. In "Beneath the Ruins are Older Ruins," Williams writes, "I need/ a million mouths/ to say this/ but I only have/ this one," and his poems suffer from this impulse. In this ambitious attempt to address America's myriad ills, Williams has produced a cacophony that feels incomplete.
