Unmanned

June 30, 2014
At the outset of this timely thriller, Capt. Darwin Cole, a Predator drone pilot comfortably ensconced at Nevada’s Creech Air Force Base, discovers too late that children have entered his target area in eastern Afghanistan. The missile strike leaves two children dead, and Cole, devastated, spends a year in self-abnegating seclusion in the Nevada desert. Journalist Keira Lyttle finds Cole and persuades him to help her and two of her colleagues investigate the high-level misuse of government drones by a rogue CIA officer. As Cole and the reporters follow a trail through ex-CIA agents, intelligence contractors, and military technocrats, Fesperman (The Double Game) delineates the capabilities of modern drone aircraft in details that evoke wonder as well as chills at their disturbing implications for personal privacy. Though the characters never completely gel and the action sags in places, the technical information will keep readers turning the pages up to the rousing conclusion. Agent: Jane Chelius, Jane Chelius Literary Agency.