Fragmented by George Fong

May 1, 2014

Fragmented

Author: George Fong

 Amazon Page

Can a retired FBI agent write? George Fong's Fragmented answers the question. Mr. Fong brings his twenty-seven year career and experience, as an FBI special agent, to the pages of his first book like it was the field report for a real kidnapping. He weaves a complex story that takes the reader from Sacramento, California to Los Angeles and back as Special Agent Jack Paris chases down prison escapee Alvin Cooper. Cooper, convicted for killing his own family five years earlier, slips out the minimum-security prison and within hours a young girl is kidnapped. Paris is certain that Cooper is behind it but can't prove it. A tenuous connection is made through child pornography but demonstrating the connection is difficult. The clock is ticking because Paris, who has dealt with child kidnappers before, knows that every hour that passes is possibly one less hour to find the child alive. Mr. Fong employs this well-used thematic vehicle to great effect, especially when the child's potentially fatal medical condition becomes known.

The story focuses on the dark and seedy world of pornography, especially those levels that deal with children. The title for the book comes from the fragmented files that remain after someone tries to destroy the evidence left on a computer's hard drive, nothing but fragments of files are left. And like the fragmented case that Jack Paris faces, nothing cohesively comes together until the last pages of the book. The events of the story span just four days, but are built on a strong backstory that developed five years earlier when the Paris helped send Cooper to prison. From day one the reader is slowly emerged into the dark miasma of disturbed men and their perverse and abhorrent behaviors, where people and things aren't what Special Agent Jack Paris believes they are.

Fast paced and sharp, Mr. Fong has succeeded in crafting a tight well written story that leaves you wondering what his follow up book will be like. And, yes, I expect a second book, the characters he has developed are strong and likable and work well together. And other than some minor editing issues the book is well produced. Welcome George Fong to the exciting world of thrillers, killers, kidnappers, and honest cops or as in this case FBI Special Agent Jack Paris.