White Eye: A Novel by the Author of Turtle Beach - Hardcover

Laced with grue and a trace of black humor, the latest by Australian d'Alpuget (Winter in Jerusalem, 1986, etc.) is set in the Australian outback and rings with alarm bells about the plight of primates (human and otherwise) and creatures in general on our rapidly deteriorating planet. On the grounds of the Exotic Feral Species and Microbiology Research Center, Diana Pembridge, avian specialist and quiet animal-rights activist, faces a dilemma: Should she immediately report her discovery of the tortured corpse of former friend Carolyn Williams to the police? Or should she first rush the huge wounded eagle--who's also shown an interest in Williams's remains- -to the vet? The vet (one of the many who will soon perish) wins. The particularly nasty murder of Williams is of special interest to the employees of the Center: Sonja, director of personnel, sister of a beleaguered politician and wife of the science chief, the elegant John Parker; Joe Miller, director of security and devoted father of a Sydney policewoman; and little Thai assistant Lek, sequestered with the lab chimps. Parker is in Bangkok at the time of the murder, reporting to the underworld heavy who supplies the illegal chimps and whose chauffeur will have a busy assassination schedule. Parker is working with a Curie-like dedication on his very own project, the fatal disease ``White Eye.'' He dreams thrilling dreams of mass wipeouts. While Pembridge, at home, tames and trains the mighty eagle (a process given in riveting detail) and sleuths, there's a shower of murders. The bad guys are exterminated, and love finds Pembridge. But later--What means this report of White Eye in faraway Canada? With eye-opening events and a collision of people, d'Alpuget achieves a hortatory effect with the calm of ashes settling after a conflagration. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

This novel of murder and scientific intrigue in the Australian Outback is an ill-conceived scientific cautionary tale in the mode, but not the engaging style, of Crichton and Cook. Aussie animal activist Diana Pembroke finds the mutilated body of her onetime playmate and longtime rival on the outskirts of the Exotic Feral Species and Microbiology Research Center. Unknown to Diana and to the authorities who investigate the murder, an affiliate of the institute, John Parker, has been illegally importing chimpanzees to the center for an illicit research project. Parker is working on two vaccines to fight White Eye, a bacteria developed by his surreptitious employer, a laboratory animal breeder called Siam Enterprises. One vaccine will protect the animals entirely, the other will leave them sterile. Although Siam's original goal was to destroy the lab animals and thereby increase the value of their stock, Parker sees White Eye and the sterilizing vaccine as a way of saving the earth from human depredations through "politically painless mass sterilization." D'Alpuget ( Turtle Beach ) strives too hard to press her fine style and character insights into the thriller genre, moving from one point of view to another, succeeding only in imparting basic plot information more elliptically than necessary. More problematic is the way characters drop in and out of the plot without developing cogent relationships. If D'Alpuget lacks Crichton's authorial vision, a skillful scriptwriter could nonetheless make this decidedly commercial offering into a fine movie.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.