The Throwaway by Michael Moreci

Published by Tor/Forge Books on June 19, 2018

Late in The Throwaway, Mark Strain tells another character about how, as a child, he stood up every day for a weakling who was being beaten by bullies and how he was beaten every day in exchange for his trouble, just because it was the right thing to do. I didn’t believe the story, having read some version of the same self-serving boast too many times in thrillers, but I didn’t believe much of anything about The Throwaway.

The novel begins as Strain, an American, is unwillingly exchanged in a spy swap, handed over to Russian agents after being deported without a hearing. A lawyer and K Street lobbyist, Strain has a pregnant wife back in D.C., which didn’t stop him from flirting with a med student named Alice, who turned out to be a Russian spy named Ania.

Strain was lobbying for a firm that bid on a cybersecurity contract with the Pentagon. The contract involves software called Verge, in which the Russians have a great interest. Some of Strain’s methods to secure the contract were aggressive; others were illegal. A Texas Congressman who doesn’t take kindly to extortion plays a role in Strain’s downfall, as do others whose identities become known to Strain toward the end of the story. The identity of the key conspirator will be obvious to thriller fans, who will find little of interest in a novel that holds no surprises, apart from the convenient help he receives from two characters who have no credible reason to help him.

To clear his name, Strain must escape from his Russian captors, and from Russia, so that the can return to D.C. to save his wife and unborn child, as well as America. Impossible? Nothing is impossible in a modern thriller. Unfortunately, Michael Moreci failed to provide the kind of entertainment value that encourages a reader to suspend disbelief in an implausible plot.

The novel makes an attempt to explain how Strain might be deported without a hearing, but it’s the kind of explanation that would only make sense if nobody in America knew what was happening. Strain is vilified on national news. Talking heads on Fox News are even talking about sending Strain’s unborn baby to Russia, which only strikes me as credible because I doubt that any talking head on Fox has ever read the Constitution beyond the Second Amendment. But given that the entire nation knows that Strain is being sent “back to Russia” (from which he didn’t come), surely a good many people would have pointed out that American citizens are entitled to some sort of due process before they are deported, even by the lax standards of Homeland Security and ICE. Deporting an American citizen to a country where he’s never lived, and doing it full view of the media, just isn’t something that even the most nefarious conspirator in the imaginary Deep State could orchestrate.

In any event, Strain is sent to Russia along with real spies, including Ania. In Russia he is treated as a hero and a celebrity, which he uses to his advantage while escaping, despite not knowing a word of Russian. That didn’t strike me as plausible. Nor did NSA’s decision to send an assassin to Russia to take him out. It’s the kind of decision that is made to further the plot, not because it makes any sense. Deciding to kill the pregnant wife is equally senseless.

With all that going against the intrepid Strain, he must make his way home, which (spoiler alert) he does with remarkable ease. Actually, it isn’t possible to spoil the plot, because it is so easy to see what’s coming. It just isn’t easy to believe (or care) about any of it.

More examples that elevated my incredulity level: Strain’s wife bluffs her way into a secure area housing the Pentagon’s mainframe computer, not because anyone at the Pentagon would fall for the bluff, but because she needs to get inside to move the plot forward. As is common in thrillers, she brings along a computer nerd who was apparently born knowing just where in the mainframe to find the particular data she needs and to understand what the machine language is doing just by glancing at it. Of course, Strain also manages to get into the Pentagon, despite being known to the world as a Russian spy who has been deported, because he also needs to do that to move the plot forward. Does the Pentagon really have no security besides a guy standing at the back door?

Apart from dialog that is too often forced, Moreci’s prose style is serviceable. His characterization is about average for a thriller. The Throwaway isn’t an awful novel, but the plot is preposterous and the ease with which Strain overcomes adversity deprives this thriller of any thrills.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Black Star Renegades by Michael Moreci

Published by St. Martin's Press on January 2, 2018

Black Star Renegades is really bad. You could probably tell that from the title. I read it because I trust St. Martin's Press to publish quality work. In this instance, my trust was misplaced.

Cade and Tristan are afraid of Zero because their parents cost Zero a lot of money by attracting Praxis (the evil empire) to their planet. Fortunately, they are saved from a Zero attack by Ser Jorken, a Master Rai at the Well. The Well is suspiciously similar to the Jedi, although they fight with glowing bladed staffs rather than glowing lightsabers. Jorken has come to recruit Cade and Tristan to join the Well. Their mission will be to “keep peace and justice alive throughout the galaxy.” They have been chosen because Jorken believes one of them is “destined to save the galaxy.”

The idea here is that Tristan is the heroic brother and Cade is the tag-along brother. The brothers try to get their hands on a weapon called the Rokura that, legend has it, only the “chosen one” can wield (suspiciously similar to Excalibur, except it glows). Their assumption is that Tristan is destined to wield the weapon while Cade is destined to watch his brother be heroic. Of course, an evil guy with a Rai weapon who fights like a Rai (yes, he’s suspiciously like an agent of the dark side) just happens to be trying to get the weapon at the same time Tristan and Case find it. What a bummer of a coincidence! And you can kind of guess what happens next.

A less promising start to a science fiction novel be difficult to imagine. Reliable space opera clichés follow: the brash pilot (Cade) who walks away from a crash landing on a hostile planet; the android with an attitude (“Duke”); Tristan’s role as “the chosen one”; Cade’s role as the normal guy who is thrust into a position of heroism; the evil empire’s power-driven queen; a ship (sort of like the Death Star) that devastates solar systems (this one drains the energy from suns); the planet that has become a haven for space pirates and other criminals; Cade’s former friend who resents Cade’s membership in the Way; and the list goes on and on.

Apart from its derivative, unoriginal, and uninteresting plot, Black Star Renegade is written in the prose of mediocre fan fiction. The author has a limited literary vocabulary and a fondness for cliché. His dialog is stilted. Adults in positions of authority speak as if they were teenagers. I could continue trashing the book, but why bother? It’s been some time since I read a book this bad, and I hope I never repeat the experience.

NOT RECOMMENDED