EXTRAORDIANRY POWERS

By Joseph Finder

Ballantine Books (1994)

Reviewed by Robert Thompson 3/6/94

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EXTRAORDINARY POWERS was an interesting book. It is a work of fiction that claims to be no more than that- a pure creation of the authors mind. However, much of the general plot is based upon both existing things and things that are so much within the realm of possibility that I'd not be totally surprised if the book were a documentary.

The hero of the book is Ben Ellison. An Ex-CIA field agent, now working as an attorney. His father-in-law, Harrison Sinclair, just happens to be the head of the CIA. Sinclair is killed in a car wreck, but is soon appears that he was actually assassinated, and rumor has it that he has stolen huge amounts of money.

Ben is reluctantly drawn back into the espionage business because of financial pressures engineered by the CIA, pressure from his boss at the law firm who has CIA ties, as well as a personal desire to clear his father-in-law's name.

It soon appears that somehow the last head of the Soviet KGB prior to and during the breakup of the U.S.S.R. is involved, and that he and Sinclair may have been responsible for stealing billions of dollars worth of gold from the Soviet Treasury.

Conspiracy piles upon conspiracy. Ben finds out that the mini-crash of the American stock market in 1987 was intentionally caused by a group of CIA big-wigs for their own profit. And that they intend to do the same thing on a larger and more disastrous scale in the now united Germanys. Of course everyone involved wants to know where the Russian gold went, who is responsible for all of the bodies piling up, and why they are being murdered.

Ben is being helped by several present and past CIA contacts, but it soon becomes clear that he can trust none of them. There are plots within plots. The only one Ben can trust is his wife Molly, an M.D. who is drawn into the mix by her love for Ben and her relationship to Harrison Sinclair.

The story takes us through Italy, France and Germany, as well Washington D.C. and a few other places.

The the book is pretty well researched, there were only a couple of technical errors and a few situations that were a little unlikely, but not impossible. The story is fairly compelling, although you can put it down to get a good nights sleep if you need to. The character development is pretty decent, although there are no "unforgettable" characters.

The EXTRAORDINARY POWERS of the title comes from two things- the uncontrolled greed and power wielded by certain people in the government, and the hero of the story, Ben, is rendered capable of reading minds. The use of psychic powers has been investigated by several if not all of the world's intelligence organizations, and is not quite as unlikely as most skeptics may believe.

If you like spy stories, or political conspiracy tales or even plain old murder mysteries, you will probably enjoy this one. It's not great, but it is much better than average.
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