Morrisey's Dark Fathom~Reviewed

Dark Fathom
Tom Morrisey
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Zondervan
ISBN: 0310244080

A prequel to Deep Blue. Beck Easton, software architect and secret member of a paramilitary wing of the National Security Agency, plans to retire from his double life and move to Florida. But an unexpected project--and woman--come into his life. Easton finds happiness in marriage. But his two lives are about to collide in the form of a possible Al-Queda operative, some stolen plutonium, and a day Easton will never forget. A day that will cost him everything that matters: September 11, 2001.

Beck Easton hates his life—both of them. In his every day job, he is a software architect and an owner of Blue Corner Technologies, a profitable software encryption company. Or so the government wants everyone to believe. In reality, he is a covert operative, employed by a sister agency of the NSA.

Fed up with his corporate lifestyle, he plans to cash out his shares of Blue Corner stock once the company goes public. His covert ops job isn't what it used to be, either. His last mission left him shaken and questioning the ethics of what it is he does. A sure sign it's time to quit.

But his plans for a quiet retirement in Florida are derailed by two things. One is Angela Brower, an interior designer hired to work on the offices at Blue Corner Technologies. His aversion to expanding the corporate offices evaporates when he spots Angela at the receptionist's desk on her initial visit. The art of office design, with an emphasis on a particular designer, is now high on his list of priorities.

Ahmed bin Saleen is the second reason Beck's retirement is put on hold. A Saudi terrorist, he's spent years searching for an elusive weapon, a secret from World War II. Now his tenacity has paid off and his Al-Queda brethren are about to obtain what they've longed dreamed of.

The stakes in Beck Easton's covert ops career have never been higher. Failure will forfeit any future with Angela. Success can bring the confirmed bachelor a future he never thought possible.

Tom Morrisey uses kernels of fact from World War II to lay the groundwork for this fast-paced and chilling book. Deep Fathom is an intense thriller with an ending that haunted me for several days after I finished reading it. A book well-worth reading.

Reviewed by Cheryl Russell