Book Review: 'The Seventh Power' by James Mills
'The Seventh Power' (224 pp.) was published by Jove Books in October, 1977. The cover artist is uncredited.
James Mills (1932 - 2011) wrote a number of novels set in the grimier milieu of New York City. He is best known for his 1966 novel 'The Panic in Needle Park,' which was made in to a 1971 film starring Al Pacino, and his 1972 novel 'Report to the Commissioner,' which was a bestseller and also turned into a film. 'The Power' (1990) is a cold war spy novel. One of Mills's most celebrated books, the nonfiction 'The Underground Empire' (1986) later was the subject of an expose in the Los Angeles Times, whose investigation revealed that some of the book's content was fabricated or misrepresented.
'Seventh' is set in late 70s New York City. Lead character Adelaide, aka 'Aizy' (her surname never is disclosed) is a brilliant but deeply troubled girl from a wealthy family. As a student at Princeton, she becomes infatuated with soul brother Bobby Fletcher. Bobby persuades Aizy to sign on to a conspiracy: make an atomic bomb, and use it to extort a comittment from the U.S. government to address poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa.
To acquire plutonium for the bomb, Bobby recruits a street criminal named 'Stoop' Youngblood. Together, the three conspirators set up shop in a decaying tenement building. Aizy knows her physics, and her engineering, and crafting a low-yield nuke in the kitchen is not all that difficult. And when the trio announce their intentions, and their ransom demands, to the authorities, life for people living in what could be a Manhattan nuclear detonation zone is going to get very, very interesting.....
The first half of 'Seventh' is an engaging read, as author Mills goes about setting up the characters and the plot via short, to-the-point chapters suffused with ironic humor. The descriptions of assembling a 'kitchen sink' atomic bomb have the verisimilitude necessary to grant credibility to the idea of nuclear blackmail. Where the narrative loses momentum, however, is in the final third of the novel, where - the authorities having been given an Ultimatum - we are treated to page after page of terse, declarative Police Procedural text:
"So what's the alternative ?"
"Get between her and the bomb. Get the damned thing away from her."
"Ideas ?"
Two of the men started quarreling and two others moved away and conferred in whispers. Ransom heard the word 'ambassador,' and one of them, a young, scrubbed, red-headed man in a blue blazer, left the room.
Random sat down and someone called in Dusko. He said his boss, the DA, was on the way in from Long Island.
"We can't wait," Carrol said, and began a discussion Ransom didn't hear.
This 'standing around and talking' stuff goes on too long, and contributes little save narrative padding. I won't disclose any spoilers about the novel's denouement, save to say that when it finally does arrive, it allows the author to have his cake, and eat it too.
'The Seventh Power' is a solid, but not overly memorable 1970s New York City crime / thriller novel. If you like that genre, and novels such as 'The Black Death,' and 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three', it may appeal to you.
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