The Archangel Project by C.S. Graham

The Archangel Project by the writing team of Steven Harris and Candice Proctor, writing under the pseudonym of C.S. Graham is an interesting concept that ultimately fell flat for this reader.

The novel's protagonist is young woman, discharged from the army where she served in Iraq, on a psych discharge. October Guinness has the ability to "remote view" whereby she can focus on a geographical location and "see" what is occurring there. She participates in a university study and through her remote viewing manages to see things she should not. Enter the shadowy corporate and government figures determined to stop "Tobie", get rid of anyone who might know what she knows, and take over the government.

I liked the basic premise of the book. The idea of shadowy figures and conspiracy complete with a dash of the paranormal always make for a great read. One of the problems I had was the way the large cast of characters was introduced. Maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention, but it seemed in the beginning that there just wasn't enough specific information about each one to make them memorable. When they would return in a later chapter, I would oft times recollect the name, but not for the life of me remember who they were in the big scheme of things. So I would have to stop and leaf back through the book until I had that, "Oh....I remember who that was" moment. It took me a while to settle in and figure out the "who's who" in the cast of characters

I also disliked the occasional almost snarky snide comments the authors put in the book. Many of the bad guys were thinly veiled versions of politicians and corporations in power today. Occasionally it felt as though the authors had a great idea of a suspense novel, but what they really wanted to write was an anti-administration, anti-military industrial complex and anti-war screed. I was probably overly attuned to these things since the election year just ended and I've been so tired of being fed a constant diet of this in the news. I would suspect it didn't bother anyone else, I've just been on a strict "strict turn off the tv and radio" diet because I'm just sick of hearing about negative stuff I have absolutely no control over, so I'm probably the exception.

So, would I recommend the book? Ehh....probably not. Yet I do see a lot of potential in this writing team. Would I read a second novel by them? Yep, I would. I think they have a lot of ability, and some interesting ideas. I would just like to see them tighten up the writing a bit.

My rating: