From an ATF sniper’s rifle camouflaged in a forest emerged a
bullet hitting an unarmed woman, a mother in a cabin in Idaho. The
elite governmental task force had been on the trail of Harlan Curran, a known
white supremacist and anti-establishment terrorist. The collateral
damage of killing Harlan and his wife, the parents of their young son Ben
Curren, etched an indelible memory in the lad’s mind as he witnessed the
onslaught of violence from this federally sanctioned and orchestrated search-and-destroy
killing. The inadvertent blatant hostility of having a trigger-happy
agent fire before the order was properly given preempted the possibility of capturing
the suspects, and thus had its dire consequences. It cemented into
the mindset of this young man a desire to grow up to kill as many non-whites in
America as possible. From his dead father’s brainwashing, he
believed in a bigoted effort to bring the white race back into its God given
status of being the supreme rulers of this land. Thus, Ben Curren
became what is known as a “sleeper cell.” So begins White
Sleeper, a novel by Dr. David Fett and Stephen Langford, co-authors of a
suspenseful and complex literary work of contemporary terrorism
possibilities.
In White Sleeper, the protagonist Dr. Dave
Richards has a knack for solving difficult life-threatening diagnoses;
sometimes by looking in plain sight for the obvious causes. This has
bolstered his reputation as being one of the best in the country, and has been
noticed by the Center of Disease Control. When the CDC attempted to
determine the cause of a deathly outbreak in the South, they called upon Dr.
Richards to assist in determining the bizarre circumstances of what was
seemingly a medical mystery of unknown origin. In attempting to solve
this, Dr. Richards met Paula Mushari, an attractive FBI agent with “an
expecting attitude.” Along with scores of other doctors, agents, and
governmental black-op guys, they embarked on their quest which led to an
unimaginable plan of death and destruction, conceived by the then mature Ben
Curren as the terrorist mastermind.
David R. Fett, being a medical doctor in real life, no doubt
added much to the factual credibility of the storyline, as he and Stephen
Langford articulated a mentally absorbing and challenging book complete with
fast-paced action and plenty of fascinating characters. “Overly
filled with characters,” might be said as a criticism, as many only had a
passing contribution to the story. However, if people in a book were
analogous to spices in a recipe, this book would be a cornucopia of flavors,
stimulating the senses and memorable beyond belief. Both Fett and Langford
have a characteristic way to introduce a person. The first part of
what they write is what the character does along with his or her name; the
second part is who they are inside. This technique made for a very
interesting cast of characters, as in one or two sentences they would introduce
someone by name, title, and tell of their focus in life. They use
what is called, “Sizing a person up in 10 seconds.” This gives White
Sleeper a style unique unto itself, and makes for a refreshing
suspense filled story.
David R. Fett and Stephen Langford work well
together. You can tell; the proof is on the
paper. Between realistic and factual elements of the storyline,
credible and interesting characters, sophisticated plot foreshadowing, superb
timing in building suspense and an intelligent fast-paced novel filled with
visuals and terse dialogue, White Sleeper is simply
infectious! Just as the “little things” in the authors’ style lend itself
to a memorable book, it’s the “little things in life” – those pictured on the
cover under an electron microscope - which can kill you!
