Book Review: “The Bitter Past” by Bruce Borgos
The First (and Hopefully Not the Last)
Debut mystery author Bruce Borgos took to Goodreads not too long ago to tell reviewers that his new book, The Bitter Past, is the first installment in what he hopes will be a long, protracted series. One wonders if it will go on as long as the Harry Hole books (13 novels now and counting), but one certainly hopes this will be the case because the first novel in the Sheriff Porter Beck series is dazzling and momentous. This is the type of book that works as a police procedural, a straight-up mystery novel, and a Cold War espionage thriller. There’s so much going on with The Bitter Past that one must wonder how Borgos managed to tie this all together, especially in a debut novel. This is also a book that deftly alternates between roll-your-eyes humour (some of it a little risqué) and dead-eyed seriousness. Essentially, The Bitter Past is two books in one, but somehow it manages to all work. This is the type of read that is so unique and creative that I would ask readers to ignore the rest of this review until they have read the book, because — as the cliché goes — this is the type of novel that works best the less you know walking into it. This is a top-notch thrill ride that will keep you guessing until the end.
I feel that to adequately talk about this book, I will have to drop the occasional spoiler or two (which is another reason why you should read this review only when you’ve finished this masterful book). It presents two stories that run in parallel: the first is set in the near present day in the rocky desert foothills of the area just north of Las Vegas. The second is set during the mid-1950s in the same region. The two stories overlap in that the second story is about a Russian spy sent to nuclear testing grounds in Nevada to steal a nuclear warhead to be used as a dirty bomb against the residents of Sin City. The first story sees protagonist Sheriff Beck investigate a homicide in which a retired FBI agent living in the area has been brutally murdered. It turns out the agent had been still following up on leads about the Soviet agent from the 1950s, who turned against his comrades and became something of a reverse agent (he was no longer helping the Russians). Beck is joined by a stunning-looking female FBI agent to find the killer before he strikes again, and that means finding out who the ex-Soviet spy is — even though the person would now be well into their late 80s. As the saying goes, sparks fly between the local cop and the Fibbie, but this is underpinned by the severity of the fact in the plot that the Russians did manage to somehow smuggle out a real warhead from its testing site many years ago.
I don’t know if this book’s plot is based on a true story or completely the product of conspiracy theories. I’m assuming this is a work of fiction and all the details are a product of the author’s clever mind. But that’s the thing: the theft of the nuclear device is presented as being possibly true and it certainly unfolds in a way that seems plausible. One could quibble that the sharp 180 turns between comedy in the Beck narrated sections of the book and the drama that unfolds during the 1950s sections make the read uneven; however, I felt it does somehow all hang together well. Put another way, the differences in tone just make this a book that you must read on your tiptoes, and it helps to keep and heighten the reader’s interest. Of course, after all, this is the sort of book that can’t be a laugh riot 100 percent of the time: in all seriousness, as the novel points out, thousands of innocent people’s lives were at stake. And what the novel certainly does is shine a light on the human consequences of nuclear testing aboveground in the southwestern U.S. and how people and animals (such as livestock) were affected during this period by developing weird forms of cancers. It may seem evident that anything having to do with atomic bombs is dangerous in retrospect, but The Bitter Past points out that the dangers — even if only theoretical at the time — were ignored by the U.S. government in trying to win an arms race between the two global superpowers. The reminder is necessary, especially within the context of the war in the Ukraine — though this novel is partially set in 2017, a few years before that war and the pandemic.
Even though there aren’t too many things that are amiss with The Bitter Past, it has a bit of a perverse worldview on all things sexual. Borgos doesn’t seem to think there’s a problem with police officers mixing “business with pleasure” if you know what I’m referring to, though I could point out that it does cost one of the characters in the end. The other thing is there’s a subplot involving a polygamy sect that is presented in a way that is anything but harmful: we’re told that marrying more than one woman is okay if nobody is being abused in any way — even if some of these wives are little more than teenagers. Um. Ah. Er. Well, whatever. And if I were wanting to be churlish, I could point out that the real identity of the Soviet agent is a bit of a humdinger (how could anyone not be able to tell?). It’s the result of the author withholding key information from the reader and is probably not the sort of thing that would work well on the big screen. These small (?) complaints aside, this is a fun and enjoyable book. It truly is an amazing and accomplished work for bringing together so many disparate strands together into one sleek package. One thing is for sure: you can sign me up for any sequels to this book. It’s quite good, criticisms be damned, and I want more, more, more!
Bruce Borgos’ The Bitter Past will be published by St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books on July 18, 2023.
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