Petit,
Chris. The Human Pool. Atria Books, October, 2002. c384p. ISBN
0-7434-1706-2. $25.00. Fiction.
Petit’s third thriller (after The
Psalm Killer and Back from the Dead) switches between two different
eras. Both worlds are described as seen by several narrators,
most notably (for the present) journalist Vaughn, and (for
the past and present) Joe Hoover, a former OSS agent. While
Vaughn researches neo-Nazis for a documentary film maker, Hoover
has been called to Frankfurt by Karl-Heinz Strasse, a former
Nazi who had ties to spymaster Allen Dulles (later director
of the CIA). The reason for Hoover’s visit is the possible
reappearance of a Swiss courier long thought dead, a man who
arranged transport to freedom for Jews and then possibly betrayed
them. Underlying this complex scenario is a web of corruption
that ties Dulles wartime activities to German pharmaceutical
giant, I.G. Farben, and ultimately to chemical experiments
being carried out today on Kurdish orphans. A seamless and
intricate interweaving of past and present, and of characters
real and fictional, this is recommended for popular fiction
collections where spy thrillers are popular.