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Mind's Eye by Paul McAuley
01/09/2005 . Source: Pauline Morgan 
pub: Simon and Schuster. 422 page hardback. Price: £12.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7432-3887-7. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.simonsays.co.uk
If you put fifty people in a room and ask them to define Science Fiction, you will get fifty different suggestions. Ultimately, if both the questions, 'Is it fiction?' and 'Does it include science?' can be answered in the affirmative, then the writing in question is Science Fiction.
In his novel 'Whole Wide World', Paul McAuley took a concept that is already part of our daily lives, the Internet, and extrapolated only small way into the future to create a detective thriller that had all the excitement that readers of both Science Fiction and modern thrillers demand of their literature. In 'Mind's Eye', McAuley is edging even closer to now. The US Army is still policing the situation in Iraq. The date could be anytime between last year and sometime in the next five. The political situation in the Middle East is relevant only in that triggers the action of the novel and has a bearing on the direction the plot takes towards the end.
Alfie Flowers is a photographer but is the first to acknowledge that he is not as good as his father. Mick Flowers died somewhere in the Middle East soon after Alfie's tenth birthday. The year before this, Alfie's grandfather had died. After the funeral, Alfie had taken a roll of paper from a hidden compartment in his deck, along with a pouch of grey powder. Alfie presumes that he tasted some of the powder and looked at the image on the paper. He doesn't remember but since then he has suffered from epileptic fits. It has also made him sensitive to a certain type of pattern.
More than twenty years later, Alfie spots a piece of graffito on a restaurant window that makes his mind tingle. The frame of the anti-American image is a pattern of dots and dashes. Thinking that the artist, who signs himself Morph, could lead him to a solution the problem that has dogged him since he looked at his grandfather's paper, he decides to track Morph down. He enlists his friend, Toby Brown, to help. As a reporter, Toby can get publicity for Morph which might bring him out into the open.
Alfie is not the only one interested in Morph. Harriet Crowley is a secret service agent. She also recognises the pattern Morph is using. Her grandfather and Alfie's were colleagues and archaeologists. It was their excavations that originally uncovered the glyphs and recognised their significance. Harriet's father had used the information to involve people in a cult set-up that went drastically wrong. Harriet also knows that Carver Soborin and Rölf Most are looking for Morph. Having obtained information about the glyphs and the drug from Harriet's father, they had tried to use them for commercial gain in Africa. The results had been horrific. Harriet wants to find Morph before they do and prevent them using them. She suspects they are looking for information to lead them to the original source.
To most people, the glyphs are just interesting patterns. To others, exposed to the drug they induce mental disturbances and can have psychological effects. Morph is using a fascination glyph which attracts to attention to the cartoon it frames. After several deaths of people who have known Morph, Harriet and Alfie pool their resources. The trail takes them to the Kurdish region of Turkey and then to Iraq.
This is a fast-paced thriller driven by the various needs of the characters. Though the science element is small, it is significant, being the cause of the situations all of them find themselves in. 'Mind's Eye' will appeal equally to those who enjoy the Indiana Jones kind of adventure, as well as those who value good literature and a well told story.
Pauline Morgan
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