It’s the late 1980s. “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland have been raging since the 1960s. American Alexandra Davis, fresh out of Princeton, has been recruited by the Provisional IRA. Initially operating undercover in Europe she proves to be a valuable asset and eventually joins an even more radical splinter group, the Genuine IRA. Running parallel to Davis’ rise as a terrorist, her best friend from college, Julie Mitchell, is herself engaged in a life of subterfuge and espionage working for the CIA. Though they were estranged, and Mitchell has long believed her former friend had died, she is shocked when her name surfaces while she is investigating European terrorism. Could Davis really still be alive? And could she actually be involved with a terrorist organization?
Though the majority of Jeff Dodson’s SCULPTING THE MISTS is concerned with terrorists and those who seek to thwart them, he lays on the intrigue by running the story from the split perspectives of the two main protagonists. That these voices from either side of the struggle are former close friends (and indeed that they are both female) adds an element of freshness. While this split narrative doesn’t always work, it does add nuance to what would otherwise be a fairly routine espionage novel. Dodson is very good in the sequences concerning the women’s time at Princeton College and in setting out how and why their paths had diverted so much. In some respects, this charting of a relationship is more successful than the passages concerning terrorism/counter-terrorism that often don’t quite convince. Likewise the back story of Irish Republicanism–so crucial to understanding the mindset of Davis and her fanatical colleagues–is never really clearly explored with any sophistication beyond rote history notes.
There are passages that are slightly too long, most particularly extended dialogue sequences which tend to be used to dump back story when a more subtle drip feed of essential information may have been a better choice. These have the effect of slowing the pace of the novel which Dodson manages more successfully elsewhere with the use of short, sharp chapters.
Jeff Dodson’s SCULPTING THE MISTS works as an engaging political thriller, with two well developed leads and their skillfully crafted relationship enough to pull the novel through one or two patches where the momentum begins to flag.
~Kent Lane for IndieReader