IMPROBABLE follows the unlikely series of events that
transpire in the life of David Caine as he attempts to
juggle a gambling addiction, temporal lobe epilepsy and
savant like abilities in the field of statistics. Here's a
synopsis of the story without providing a spoiler: As a
result of trying to gather the money to payoff a debt to
Russian mobsters he lands in a web of intrigue that involves
CIA, FBI, NSA, North Koreans, and rogue elements of the
Columbia Statistical Sciences Department. The remaining
cast of characters are epic in scope and include a cold
blooded CIA agent (who is actually a KGB sleeper agent of
whom Mother Russia has lost track), David's schizophrenic
twin brother, some Russian mobsters, a gang of poker
players, a former FBI agent gone freelance, a corrupt NSA
administrator, David's graduate school advisor, a lotto
jackpot winner, a moonstruck female grad student, a "means
justify the ends" mad scientist, a skatepunk-hipster-hacker
working for the NSA, a team of stereotypical special forces
goons and the passengers of Amtrak Train 183 to Washington,
DC. Sprinkle liberally with quantum mechanics, probability
theory, psuedo-psychology and eastern mysticism and you've
got a pretty good idea of what to expect.
In general, I found the book to be a rather engaging and
entertaining page-turner. As good, light entertainment
(albeit with some very dark elements) this seems to hit the
mark. I was left feeling, however, that the book could have
delivered more. For me the three areas that undermined the
story's ability to suspend disbelief were: the transition of
the rogue CIA agent from stone-cold killer to champion, the
treatment of how omniscience presents itself upon an
individual's personality and the gimmicky reveal of the true
villain.
Redemption is a classic theme that finds itself in many of
the best stories on paper. Redemption stories give us
reason to hope that no matter how far we stray off of the
path, there must be a way back. When an evil character
suddenly decides to become "good" there needs to be some
noble motivation - a newfound respect for life, the
discovery of true love, or at least a psychotic break. For
the rogue CIA agent, Nava, we have none of that. She moves
from a character that would think nothing of killing 20
people because they were in front of her in line at the
movies, to a character that is the champion of the helpless
and downtrodden David Caine. She's not in love with Caine,
she's still willing to decapitate anyone that looks at her
cross-eyed and she's seems fully in touch with her
faculties, so the reader is left wondering... why?
Omniscience. Further explanation would seem unnecessary.
Once you gain the access to the complete knowledge base of
the universe it should be game over for the bad guys. You
know all, you see all - and there really isn't any downside.
You certainly wouldn't allow yourself to be placed in a
position where you couldn't use your superpower; Superman
certainly wouldn't hand Lex Luthor a set of kryptonite
handcuffs. David, however, allows the bad guys to capture
him and then do the one thing that can keep him from logging
into the big crystal ball - they keep him from closing his
eyes. Yes, gentle reader, you read that right. You can
have total wisdom, but only if you can blink.
Now for the villain reveal - I won't ruin the books big
got-ya here. I should say that my eyes made an audible
noise when I rolled them after reading about the villain's
secret identity.
In general, not a bad read, especially for a first effort.
The action keeps the story moving and there is enough
intrigue to make the reader wonder what's next. If you can
overcome some of the loose ends, you will enjoy it... probably.
After nightfall, David Caine inhabits a world of risk,
obsession, rich rewards, and sudden, destructive downfalls.
A compulsive gambler possessing a brilliant mathematical
mind -- and an uncanny ability to calculate odds in the
blink of an eye -- he prowls the underground poker clubs of
Manhattan, winning more than he loses. But Caine is a man
prone to crippling epileptic incidents -- and one night he
makes a costly miscalculation, suffering the most intense
seizure he has ever experienced. And his life spins madly
out of control.
Desperate to regain his equilibrium, he agrees to test an
experimental drug with unnerving side effects. Suddenly he
is having visions of the past, present, and future; either
peering through a window into an alternate reality or
teetering on the precipice of a psychotic breakdown.
Chemistry and destiny have colluded to grant David Caine the
astonishing ability to foresee the consequences of his
actions and the probability of various outcomes, both good
andterrible.
But with his "gift" comes grave danger, for he is not the
only one who knows his secret. Frightening powers operating
from the shadows now want him for their own, forcing Caine
to seek help from a most improbable ally -- a beautiful
rogue CIA agent skilled in the death arts -- on a desperate
race for survival with his sanity hanging by the slenderest
of threads.
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