The Alphabet in Crime Fiction: Lindy Cameron’s Redback

The Alphabet in Crime Fiction community meme is really making progress in our risky ride through the alphabet. Today’s stop is the letter “R,” and while everyone is making dinner reservations and ‘phoning home, I’d like to thank Kerrie at Mysteries in Paradise for the safe and fun trip thus far, and to make my contribution for this week: Lindy Cameron’s Redback, first published in 2007. What you see here is my copy of its 2010 re-release.

The novel begins on the Pacific island of Laui, where the Pacific Tourism and Enviro-Trade Conference has just been disrupted. A group of rebels has taken over the island and is holding the conferees hostage. News of the takeover spreads quickly, and a crack Australian team called Redback rescues the hostages. Redback, led by Commander Bryn Gideon, is named for an Australian spider with a dangerous (potentially fatal) bite. It’s a private team of retrieval experts who are called in when a situation is particularly dangerous or delicate, and this situation is most certainly both.

Redback soon learns about other, seemingly unrelated incidents in different parts of the world. First, Lord James McQuade is brutally murdered in London’s Warwick Club. Then, Hiroyuki Kaga, owner of an internationally-known game-design company, is murdered in Tokyo. Then, there’s a devastating train bombing in France, and an attack on a U.S. military base in Texas. Then, Australian Attorney-General Barnaby Cross is assassinated on a beach in Sydney. Journalist Scott Dreher gets the first glimmer of the connection among these attacks; he’s researching the use of war simulation games to recruit for the military. During a chance encounter, he discovers that the “good guys” might not be the only ones using that strategy. An international terrorist group is “hiding” behind a variety of local groups and using a game called Global WarTek to recruit new members and give instructions.

Once it’s clear that these events are all related, the hunt is on for the shadowy terrorist group and its even more shadowy leaders. Team Redback is called into the fray and works to expose the group and stop the attacks. In the end, the various threads of the plot are tied together, and we find out how, why and by whom all of these attacks were planned. Bryn Gideon and her team play a crucial role in uncovering the conspiracy and the team’s mobility, skills and cleverness prove more than a match for the terrorists.

This is a thriller, so the pace and timing are just what you’d imagine they are. The action happens quickly, and there are all sorts of chases, explosions and so on. But Redback is far from a mindless, glossy thriller that banks on gun battles to keep the reader turning pages. We go “behind the scenes” and are privy to the way both attacks and counter-attacks are planned and carried out. There’s an intelligent “game of chess” played on both sides. There is very real tension and suspense, and the way in which Cameron reveals who and what is behind the attacks keeps the reader (well, this one, anyway) guessing. It’s also worth mentioning that the “bad guys” in this novel are not mindlessly evil people whose whole purpose in life is to be nasty. They have a carefully calculated plan and believable motives.

One of the most important elements of this book is the “human face” that it puts on the action in the story. In fact, it’s that humanity that really builds tension. For example, as the Redbacks are rescuing the conferees that have been held hostage, one of the rebels catches up with Dr. Jana Rossi, one of the hostages. He’s assaulting Rossi when he’s stopped by a well-aimed shot from Bryn Gideon. That incident haunts Rossi, and although she’s not debilitated by it, we do see how she’s affected. A European terrorist group blows up a train in rural France. The family members of those who are killed are devastated and we also see how that attack affects them. Hiroyuki Kaga’s murder in Tokyo is shattering for his mistress Kaisha, who actually discovered his body.

That humanity makes the characters in this novel quite realistic, and that, too, is an important element that sets this thriller apart from lots of others. There is a large “cast of characters,” and keeping track of them all might seem daunting. But Cameron keeps it clear who’s doing what, who is where and what the main characters are like. These are not “cardboard cutout” people who serve only to handle weapons and drive getaway cars. We learn a little of their backstories, and as the novel progresses, we learn how some of the disparate characters are related. That’s helped by the fact that the story is told from several points of view. Cameron makes it clear whose point of view is being shared at each point, so it’s not confusing (at least it wasn’t for me), but we do get to stand, so to speak, in the shoes of several different people. We also learn how their stories intersect and as that happens, the various events and interactions in the story make sense.

There’s also a critical element of teamwork in Redback. It’s true that Bryn Gideon is Redback’s commander and as such, she makes the final decisions as to how her team will operate. But she respects and depends for her life on the members of her squad. All of the members in their turn respect and rely on Gideon, and we can see that the team is more than just a group of people who happen to do the same thing in the same place at the same time. They are also mates, and they respect each other. That well-disciplined teamwork is most obvious when they’re “on duty;” for instance, we see it when they rescue the hostages from Laui and later, when they make another rescue. It’s obvious at the end of the book, too. None of the Redback team members is particularly demonstrative, but all of them feel a close bond with each other.

There’s also a welcome element of humour in the novel. The members of Redback tease each other frequently and engage in a lot of good-natured banter. That’s not the only place, either, where we see humour. For instance, one of the people who attended the Pacific Tourism and Enviro-Trade Conference is Sydney journalist Alan Wagner, an insufferable self-involved egoist who’s made Jana Rossi’s life miserable during the whole conference. Here are Rossi’s thoughts shortly after the conferees have been taken hostage:

“…she also hoped that this time the rebels would shoot her companion, otherwise she’d have no choice but to kill the stupid bastard herself.

She also knew that developing a grudge was better than sitting in fear, and the desire to hurt Alan Wagner was quite empowering. If this was anger management, then it worked for her.”

That dash of humour adds a refreshing touch to the story, and it makes the characters more likeable.

Since the action in the novel takes place in several different parts of the world, we get to savour more than one interesting setting. The terrorists and the Redback team face off against each other from Sydney to Pakistan, from Texas to London and from Tokyo to France. Cameron places the reader distinctly in each location, and that makes it easier to keep track of what is happening.

An intelligent thriller that raises very interesting questions about terrorism, Redback makes use of solid characters, interesting settings, real teamwork and humour to carry the reader. As it happens, I won this signed copy of Redbook in a successful auction bid. In her inscription, Cameron wrote:

“…Enjoy the ride.”

If you’re reading this, Lindy, thanks . I did.