Seven Down - David Whitton

Fiction (Speculative)

Rating: 8.5/10

A speculative spy novel sure to keep the reader’s synapses firing on all cylinders while somehow managing to be both sinister and absurd.

A mysterious and somewhat shadowy company sets up an elaborate plan to kill an unknown individual in a fancy hotel, recruiting seven ordinary people and molding them into sleeper agents to do their bidding.

The story opens with the debriefing of the person in charge of executing the first step of the mission and then is told through a series of interviews with all the remaining agents as their turn comes up.

Through these conversations the story slowly builds to its unwinding, from when each is called to action with a text that contains the trigger phrase to when they landed in the chair across from their interrogator. They disclose everything from their initial motivation to their final act for the cause.  A cause that was never disclosed to them. One they are unsure was fulfilled.

The characters are brilliantly wrought, each with their own level of affliction with the monotony of day-to-day existence, each tortured by their own imaginations, some that can only be described as deeply flawed and some that are absolutely hilarious.  And for an author to be able to have seven distinct voices is story craft at it’s best.

It’s an absolute must that your sense of humor is sharp and just a little bit dark to get the most out of this book.  Let me give you an example…

“Lots of people aspire to destroy their lives with children. I respect those aspirations. I myself have chosen to destroy my life in other ways. To each their own.”

This outside the box book was a joy to read!

Book Pairing(s): Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, Two Nights In Lisbon by Chris Pavone, Sleepwalk by Dan Chaon