The Gordian Knot

JoAnn Fastoff
Vantage Press (2005)
ISBN 0533148766
Reviewed by Paige Lovitt for Reader Views (4/06)

The book is small, but the story is very complex and full of intrigue. “The Gordian Knot” is very face paced and definitely not a book to put down. Because of its size, it is perfect for someone that needs a quick book fix, or for someone that is traveling.

The story is centered around a ten year old boy, Mark Mason, whose father, an FBI agent, has been mysteriously killed. He and his mother are trying to make it from Chicago to Washington, DC, to find his father’s friend who is a trustworthy FBI agent. Mark becomes separated from his mother and has to continue his journey to Washington, DC on his own. He does not know who he can trust, so he relies very little on the kindness of strangers and does most of the journey on foot. When he arrives in Washington, he learns that rogue FBI agents are looking for a tape that his father had, and they believe Mark has it. He relies on his father’s friend, Howard Watson, to help him solve the mystery of what is on the tape. The tape turns out to implicate some very high level politicians. Until its contents are revealed, Mark remains in danger. A Gordian Knot is described as something that you do when you try to find a simple solution to a complex problem. The conflict in this story is very complex.

The author, JoAnn Fastoff, does an excellent job of developing these characters. She takes you back in time as far as the 1960’s to introduce the relationships that formed among the good people in this story. Parts of the story development take place in the Middle East, Vietnam and the United States. Fastoff manages to tie everything together in such a concise way that you do not feel that you are missing out on anything in the story, in spite of the brevity of the book. I would love to read more by this author and hope that she continues to include these characters in her writings.

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