Dust Up

February 15, 2016
When Ronald Hartwell, a biotech company employee, is shot to death at the door of Det. Doyle Carrick of the Philadelphia PD in McGoran’s ambitious third eco-thriller (after 2014’s Deadout), deadbeat Det. Mike Warren thinks Hartwell’s wife, Miriam, killed her husband in a domestic dispute, but Carrick has his doubts. When Carrick interviews Spencer Vinson, Ronald’s boss at Energene Corporation, about the murder, Vinson suggests that Ronald was engaging in industrial espionage. Meanwhile, Miriam, who also works for Energene, tells Carrick that she suspects Soyagene, a new GMO (genetically modified organism) that the company is field testing in Haiti, has caused extreme allergic reactions. Carrick ends up in Haiti, where he contends with powerful corporations with major investments in the island nation, a possible coup, a potential Ebola outbreak, and corrupt police. Some readers may feel that too much is going on, too slowly, in this violent tale of greed run amok. Agent: Stacia Decker, Donald Maass Literary Agency.

Starred review from March 1, 2016
McGoran works for a Philadelphia food co-op and is an advocate for urban agriculture. He's also one fine thriller writer. In his third ecothriller, following Deadout (2014), Philadelphia cop Doyle Carrick awakens to a horrifying scene: a stranger is dying on his doorstep. It's a delight to watch McGoran propel the narrative forward, with minimal backstory and artful use of detail, as Carrick learns of the man's connection with a biotech company. The trail leads to Haiti, where the company has unloaded tainted food and followed it with a murderous cover-up. The action is unending, and McGoran displays enviable skill in keeping a large cast of characters easily identifiable. Lessons on the treachery of multinationals are delivered forcibly (they lie, you die). It's a first-tier thriller by an ecologist who can show the hard-boiled folks a thing or two. For the country side of the ecothriller subgenre, try Paul Doiron, C. J. Box, and Kirk Russell.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)