Codename Chandler is More Austin Powers Than James Bond

Flee by J.A. Konrath
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This felt like the literary equivalent of cheap action movies I sometimes watch on streaming that want to be like the high-budget productions but don't have the money or talent to actually make it happen. Money is less of an issue here than talent. As in writing talent that could craft decent characters or a logical plot.

So "Chandler" is a government agent living at the moment in Chicago. Then suddenly she's set upon by assassins who all look like her. The reason for this is actually less plausible than clones, robots, or even multiverse versions of herself. I won't give it away, but it's pretty silly and implausible. About as silly and implausible as the McGuffin: a phone that can literally call in a nuclear strike anywhere in the world with just one code. As dumb as American government could be, I hope we're not stupid enough to make nuclear strikes so easy an almost-random person could it.

There are of course villains but they're as thin as the paper I didn't read this on--because I read it on Kindle. The POV is largely first-person from Chandler but when it switches to third-person with the villains it doesn't do them any favors. Instead of adding depth, it only makes them more one-note, mustache-twirling clichés.

Even the naming system of the agents doesn't make that much sense. Chandler and Hammett were contemporaries in the 30s, but then you have Fleming from the 50s-60s, Forsyth/Ludlum from the 70s-80s, Follett late 70s-present, and Clancy 80s-2013. There's no consistency in the time periods or really even the genres. If you were giving these names out all at once, why would you do it like this? Either pick authors from the same time period or the same genre or just make it more random.  I mean it's like if Splinter had named the Ninja Turtles da Vinci, van Gogh, Picasso, and Warhol, who were all in different times with different styles instead of using all Renaissance painters/sculptors. 

Then there are forced cameos by Konrath's other Chicago characters "Jack Daniels," a female police detective and some private eye guy whose name I can't remember and whose cameo contributed nothing and was far less subtle than Stan Lee's cameos in Marvel movies.  Unless you're a fan of Konrath (which I'm not since this was the first--and maybe last one--I read) these cameos are just intrusive and don't add much.

The only standout is "Fleming," who reminded me of Barbara Gordon, who was Batgirl until she was crippled by the Joker and then became a hacker named Oracle who aided the Bat-family and other heroes. That is basically what Fleming does.

This could have been a fun read if the characters had been interesting. Since much of it is Chandler's POV she needed to have a personality, but didn't. I would recommend "The Barista's Guide To Espionage" by Dave Sinclair that was similar but much more fun and with a better character.

That is all.

(Spoiler:  Since no one is likely to actually read this I'll just spoil it and say that "Chandler" and her doppelgangers are identical septuplets who inexplicably have the same fingerprints.  The likelihood of that is about the same as getting struck by lightning after being beamed up by a UFO on your way to redeem the winning lottery ticket you bought from Bigfoot.  And then someone in the government like instantly has the brilliant idea to take these seven girls and turn them into killing machines.  Sounds legit.  Not.)