In today's SF Chronicle, David Kipen
reviews Michael Crichton's new novel. "State of Fear" is a global warming thriller with a twist - The bad guys are environmentalists out to stage weather-related disasters to make folks believe that global warming is really happening.
The discussion of the book itself won't surprise anyone familiar with Crichton's work in general, or his views on the environment in particular. However, Kipen does ask a jackpot question:
Where are all the great American left-wing thriller writers? Such conservatives as Crichton, Tom Wolfe, Tom Clancy and the "Left Behind" guys are all minting money, but, aside from le Carre (who's not an American) and maybe Carl Hiaasen (whose stakes are merely Floridian instead of global), who's left to quicken pulses for the blue- state crowd?
"The Day After Tomorrow" was well intentioned, but that was a mediocre movie, not a novel. (Did it stink on purpose, so as to discredit global warming? Stop that.) It's worth repeating: Where are all the great American left-wing thriller writers? Hands?
So, let's have some recommendations - what are your favorite liberal thrillers? I'm partial to the works of Richard Condon, myself - The Manchurian Candidate and Winter Kills being my favorites.