The Accident by Chris Pavone

The Accident is Chris Pavone’s second novel, the first being The Expats for which he won an Edgar Award.  This second thriller gives an insider’s look at big time publishing and corruption in big business, politics, and the CIA all premised around the pending publishing of an unauthorized biography.  The subject of the biography is media mogul Charlie Wolfe who has aspirations for public office and secrets worth killing for.

The biography contains accusations that Wolfe had accidently killed a young coed when he was in college and then with the help of his father (then deputy CIA director) covered up the crime. David Miller, Wolfe's best friend and later business partner witnessed the crime and fostered the cover-up. Wolfe goes on to build a hugely successful news network at times covertly altering world events for exclusive news value. Now decades later, Miller has found his conscience and is exposing Wolfe’s criminal activity to the world in this telling book.  To avoid criminal charges himself and the wrath of Wolfe and his co-conspirators, Miller fakes a terminal illness then his own death and goes into hiding to author his book anonymously. He then releases it for publishing through Isabel Reed, a New York literary agent.

Isabel Reed receives the mysterious manuscript and distributes it to a few of her cronies in the publishing world. That list includes her assistant Alexus, publisher friend Jeff Fielder and movie agent Camille.  With the conventional publishing business in a state of decline, the right manuscript could bolster careers for a lucky few.

After an all-night read Isabel realizes the explosive nature of the book.  Not only would Charlie Wolfe’s career plans be ruined but politicians and CIA insiders would be investigated for their sinister roles in world political events.  Clearly Wolfe and his rouge CIA insiders would kill to keep this story under wraps.  So not only is Isabel’s life in danger but also everyone to whom she had distributed manuscript copies the previous day.

 

Isabel’s assistant, Alexus is found murdered in her apartment, the copied manuscript missing.  Isabel quickly goes into hiding collecting Jeff as she flees.  Little did she know Wolfe had anticipated his partner’s rebellion… even Isabel’s and Jeff’s involvement… so Isabel’s survival depends on her wits.

There is a lot right with The Accident.  It has all the elements of a great mystery/ thriller.  A high stakes game with deception at its core, Pavone creates the mystery then meters out the key info with plenty of thrills and intrigue on route to a satisfying conclusion.  However, each chapter is told from the perspective of a different person and many times the author fails to identify that person… interesting oversight from an author who was once an editor himself.  A couple times I was on page two of the chapter before I figured out which character was narrating.  This makes for a very confusing journey, particularly if you don’t read it in one sitting.  Nonetheless, I think this new author holds great promise… just still a little rough around the edges.