Revolution #9 by Peter Abrahams
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"Blurting the answer to twenty-six across in the Sunday New York Times crossword was the first big mistake Charlie Ochs had made in twenty years. Playing Ben Webster was the second."

Peter Abrahams' Revolution #9 (1992) provides a black and white, textbook example of a mystery/thriller novel that is great at the beginning and absolutely unreadable at the end. From the wonderful first chapter - about a boy baseball player who accidentally leaves his mitt in his father's office - through captivating three chapters that introduce the main characters in the plot, to the outstandingly well written scenes of Charlie meeting Emily and falling in love with her, a most discriminating reader will have a feeling that the author is a "serious," accomplished writer. People seem to come alive from the pages of the novel.

The plot carries on fast. On the wedding day the young couple looking forward to a long and happy life meet an unexpected guest. A man, dressed in a gorilla suit, hands Charlie a magnum bottle of champagne decorated with a black ribbon around the neck and with a congratulations card from Uncle Sam addressed to a Mr. Wrightman. The next day Uncle Sam himself shows up and Charlie suddenly leaves Emily for a few days to straighten out some complicated inheritance business in his family. We now learn that Charlie Ochs might not be who he seems he is.

The story rewinds 22 years to 1970 and we get acquainted with anti-government activists of The Committee of the American Resistance grouping students opposed to Vietnam War. They are involved in armed resistance against the government policies. That part of the plot is well-written and truly captivating. The contemporary thread on the other hand begins to deteriorate. Charlie discovers a clue that totally changes the basic algebra of the story and things begin to break down on the plausibility front. Then comes page 275 of the hardback edition that I was reading when events lose any relationship to reality and the reader is served literary garbage.

I was not strong-willed enough to read the last fifth of the book, I just flipped through the pages, and - being Polish-born - I noticed a tiny yet funny fragment mentioning the leader of the Polish pro-Soviet government in the 1960s.

After the first hundred or so pages of the book I was contemplating a possible four-star rating. Now I am even hesitant to assign a two-star one. Yet I have to, since the author of the first part of the book is a good writer. Whoever - instead of Peter Abrahams - wrote the last part should be ashamed. I highly recommend the novel to all readers who love experiencing massive disappointment.

Two stars.

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