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Jonas Lamb, the protagonist in R. J. Kaiser's BLACK SHEEP, is an unrepentant skirt-chaser, a serial ex-husband, and a man of flexible ethics. He's also a decent guy. When his estranged microbiologist son approaches him with an astonishing and entirely legitimate business proposition, Jonas is both moved at his son's consideration and excited at the prospect of becoming obscenely wealthy. But the business of making the transition from prospective obscene wealth to the real deal is far from easy. This is bad news for Jonas, but great news for readers.
Patrick, Jonas's son, has bio-engineered a way to use corn to increase the energy yield of fossil fuels. The potential of Patrick's discovery --- code named Black Sheep --- so threatens the world's oil establishment that government agencies from various nations, including the U.S., are moved to dispatch a collection of agents, assassins and assorted bad guys to surveil, curtail and otherwise prevent Patrick and Jonas from upsetting the global energy applecart.
Equally bent on stopping Patrick's research is the local chapter of Save the Seeds, a group of militant environmentalists. They've already torched Patrick's lab, and now they're ready to move on to plan B.
But Jonas's problems don't end there. Elise, his sixth and perhaps most understanding wife, and silent partner in his new venture, has succumbed to cancer, leaving Jonas at the mercy of Melanie, Elise's shrewish daughter. Melanie is convinced that Jonas is up to something illegal and is determined to undermine his plans.
Also concerned about these plans is Tess, Patrick's mother. Her re-entry into Jonas's life after nearly thirty years rekindles a mixture of confused feelings for all concerned. This condition is exacerbated for Jonas by Crystal Clear, his extramarital honey, who has decided to dump him to seek out more stable and marriageable prospects.
The cast of characters expands to include a shady private investigator, a number of European espionage-for-hire types, and others, bringing the cast up to near Cecil B. DeMille proportions. But Kaiser deftly handles the multitudes and keeps a tight hold on the reigns of the complex narrative, allowing the story to unfold at a pace that is both relaxed and irresistible.
BLACK SHEEP is Kaiser's seventh novel --- his ninth if you count the two novels written under the name Janice Kaiser. The discovery of that bit of literary crossdressing only reinforces the impression left by BLACK SHEEP that R. J. Kaiser is a man with a deep appreciation for wit and irony, and has the temperament and skill necessary to infuse his pages with a great sense of fun. There is simply no excuse for not reading this book.
--- Reviewed by Bob Rhubart
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