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DEGREE OF CAUTION
by Sibyl Avery Jackson
Milligan Books, November 2001
402 pages
$15.95
ISBN: 1881524272


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Houston's Bayou City Wireless is on the brink of their distribution of the newest, best cell phone ever created, The Excalibur. Not only can you see the person you are talking to but The Excalibur is also a computer with a keyboard. And to make it even better, it doesn't matter where you use it, in a valley, surrounded by mountains, or in the middle of the desert, because you will always be able to put your call through! No more, "Can you hear me now?"

There is one, small, tiny problem though. The people who were testing it in the small community of Bastrop, Texas all started dying. In fact, they're all dead now except for one person who is trying his hardest to let the world know about this deadly cell phone.

Nevertheless, the death of the test group is not going to stop company president Gerald Conti from marketing the killer cell phones. In fact, the first shipment will be sent to Indonesia within the month. Yet, Gerald does have a problem. There's that lone survivor in Balstop who hasn't died yet and then there's Victor, Gerald's twin brother who is the head of the Conti Business Empire, a job that Gerald wants, and will get if he has anything to say about it. Victor doesn't believe Gerald's studies that state the cell phone is safe.

Gerald doesn't know it, but the FBI also is looking into his cell phones. They had put an undercover man into the company and now the 47 year old agent has suddenly died of Alzheimer's Disease!

Because of the suspicious death, the FBI assigns brother and sister FBI Agents, Michael Morgan and Monica Sinclair, to uncover the proof of the hazards of the new cell phone and find evidence against the company marketing it.

Monica is placed inside Bayou City Wireless as the top public relations person where she can gain access to not only the Conti brothers but to The Excalibur too. Unfortunately, the FBI is also hiding their own secrets from the brother/sister team.

DEGREE OF CAUTION is an enjoyable thriller although the story line of cell phones causing cancer is a bit old. I remember hearing about this problem years ago. When author, Sibyl Avery Jackson, stays within the concept of the wireless company and how Monica finds the proof of their dastardly deeds, the novel is extremely enjoyable.

Unfortunately Jackson instead, includes a lot about Michael and Monica's personal life. They are the offspring of a Black mother and a Jewish father. Michael looks more like his father while Monica takes after her mother. Monica hates her father because she believes that he loves her brother more - because of Michael's lighter complexion.

Monica is presented to the readers as an example of modern female perfection, and she's a bit too perfect for my liking. She's a great FBI agent, a master of disguise, every single person who meets her just adores her. Oh, should I even bother to mention that she is drop dead gorgeous?

I found myself skipping over Monica's overwrought angst concerning her personal problems because it impeded the better storyline - the killer cell phone mystery.

The best characters in this novel were the twin Conti brothers, Gerald and Victor. Jackson creates for us a classic example of good versus evil. I enjoyed reading about the brothers and their differences.

Alas, the author's writing is a little flawed when it comes to building suspense. Three quarters of the way through the book, something major happens. I think the readers were supposed to gasp in surprise, but it fell flat. It was too obvious, you knew what was going on from the start.

On the whole I did like this book. It was a little slow at first , too much time was spent regaling the readers with Monica's perfections. But when Jackson concentrates on the suspenseful section of the book and you get into the story line, the writing does grab you.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, December 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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