Vivid recollections skyrocket and explode, illuminating time-worn events that have puzzled us for much of the last 60 years, in A Mirror Above the Abyss, an eerie but plausible speculation on troubling historical facts by journalist Oleg Lurye.
In this larger-than-life mystery, Washington Post journalist Max Malin is contacted by an anonymous source claiming to have some important revelations that should interest him and his employer. The evidence presented indicates that the attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, had little to do with terrorism, but was a carefully orchestrated act of pure destruction generating millions of dollars for one man, whose ill-gotten gains come from such industries as weapons manufacturing. An FBI agent quickly tries to quash Malin’s zeal for the possibilities inherent in this disclosure, piquing his reporter’s curiosity.
One suppressed conjecture leads to more: Who really killed President Kennedy? Who tried to kill the Pope? Who was responsible for the theft of a multibillion-dollar loan to Russia? And why did any of these crimes happen in the first place? Malin risks his life and reputation digging for answers and comes up with a name, or names, of one man, who connects to all of these subtly related crimes. Malin learns that the perpetrator responsible for these storied events actually, gleefully, chose to witness some of them in person, disguised as an anonymous stranger on the scene who later, in each case, suddenly and forever disappeared. Yet the man Malin seeks, and will have the unique chance to interview, is alive and, as the winding path to his discovery will show, a kind of genius.
The author of this twisting tale could be the man he writes so skillfully about: Lurye is, like Malin, a man with Russian background and an international mindset that can encompass any number of philosophies, motivations, and horrors with a professional perspective that keeps facts rolling out to the public despite the obvious danger to their presenter. Here, as deftly styled by Lurye, Max Malin is able to write a bestselling, fact-laden exposé regarding the Kennedy assassination, the collapsing of the World Trade Center towers, and other acts of perfidy all linked to an international crime syndicate – and do so without great fear, since the benefactor of the book’s publication is none other than the evil planner of the crimes Malin reveals in such gripping detail.
Lurye deftly handles this heavy material because he has lived it – he has written about international corruption with sufficient weight to face harassment and threats to his life. He has personally investigated the almost mythical occurrences Malin explores, underpinning this fictional offering with numerous factual footnotes, giving the book a disturbing, but gripping sense of realism. The result of Lurye’s fascinating meshing of fact and fantasy is a thrilling ride through history, across the globe, and inside a cadre of devious minds by a determined reporter who will stop at nothing to get the truth, and a perversely obsessed criminal who will stop at nothing to distort and destroy it.
Elevated above a conspiracy thriller into a genre-crossing mesh of fiction and nonfiction, A Mirror Above the Abyss may have a lurid focus, but it’s ultimately an eye-opening and captivating read that will have you thinking differently about world-changing events in the past, and the future.
Available At
Leave A Comment