‘The Truth Chamber’ is a high-stakes political thriller about a divided America using artificial intelligence to fight a global plot against democracy.
Not too long after the publication of Vince Flynn’s debut novel ‘Term Limits’ in 1997, a friend loaned me a copy, which I enjoyed very much. As I read Duncan Ritchie’s debut novel ‘The Truth Chamber,’ I was reminded at several points of Flynn’s earlier work – in a good way. Ritchie serves up a political thriller pulled straight from today’s headlines that rings eerily prescient, and poses some further possibilities that, so far at least, have not yet come to pass.
The story begins with an explosion at a hotel in Atlanta on election night one November in the future during a presidential cycle. Rushed to the hospital, the Democratic nominee Anna Hoffman is in unknown condition. The country waits on pins and needles for word of her status.
Flashback to eleven months earlier, Texas governor Mack Leach receives a Christmas visit from Mara Kane, one of three contenders for the Republican Party nomination. She makes no bones about the party’s base comprised of less educated, White male Christians on whom the nominee will depend, nor about her willingness to play dirty if Governor Leach turns down her offer to join forces, avoiding the infighting that would weaken both candidates.
The novel’s central character, Admiral Liam Driscoll, the former head of the Special Ops Command, lost his wife Ellie a year back and still struggles with the loss. Now living alone with his Belgian Malinois, Senna, and his late wife’s cat, Tommy, Liam sips whiskey, contemplating his personal state of affairs. The scene is a low point in his life as he mulls the prospect of suicide. Ellie’s close friends intervene on Christmas to subtly pull Liam out of his melancholy.
Soon thereafter, Liam is approached by Senator Anna Hoffman’s campaign – another link to Ellie before she passed – about possibly joining as an advisor. There he meets Abbey Reis, an FBI agent assisting Hoffman’s staff with security, along with other members of the senator’s staff. Though Liam remains aloof, he agrees to learn more.
Meanwhile, around the country, a series of shootings begins, ostensibly orchestrated by a group called the Antifa Liberation Front (ALF), sparking public outcry. And yet, something is rotten in the state of Denmark, as it were – or in this case, the United States of America. Disaffected and aggrieved groups with names such as Sons of the Soil, 1776ers, Liberty Mothers, Soldiers of Christ, Patriot Army, True Patriots, Texas Border Knights, and Defenders of Freedom wail in outrage at the actions of the rogue shooters – replete with obligatory Truth Rallies to energize the faithful. Despite their protestations, however, something just doesn’t add up.
On the airwaves and across cyberspace, two fictitious media networks feature prominently in the news reporting, based on real-life outlets that aren’t hard to identify. Caitlin Kincaid with Publius appears most often, showing up at several pivotal events. On the other end of the political spectrum blares the conservative network called Vox, hosted by Laura Swanson and other personalities resembling archetypal Murdoch anchors.
In response to the escalation of violence implicating ALF, the Hoffman campaign enlists and bankrolls Kira Rudenko, who leads the development of what is called The Truth Chamber, an AI advanced pattern recognition device that can learn and adapt – a technology that goes far beyond traditional polygraphs. The tool establishes a baseline and tracks changes in physiology and neural circuitry using a scoring system – with an initial price tag of $300,000 for the prototype. The group intends to employ the Truth Chamber to reveal the faction behind the shootings.
Ezra Duevel, Mara Kane’s primary funding source and power broker, lurks behind the scenes, steering a nefarious plot. Born in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Duevel is a former South African Special Forces Brigade member, CEO of Arcadia Security, and a shady military contractor involved in illicit arms deals. Adding to the intrigue, Kane and Duevel’s relationship is more than platonic.
Several key characters to keep track of along the way. To name but a few, Alex Steele, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was Liam’s commanding officer and remains in touch, encouraging him to return to duty. Lee Robinson, special agent in charge of the FBI Atlanta office, is Abbey’s former boss. Clay Brooks, pastor of the Church of the White Father, uses his entrepreneurial inclinations to build a following based on unvarnished racism and becomes an unwitting accomplice to the larger conspiracy against Hoffman specifically and democracy more generally.
Peppered with references to rock melodies whose lyrics infuse that narrative with contemporary relevance – even though many of the songs date back to the 1960s – “The Truth Chamber” very much represents a parable for the here and now. With desperate measures called for by desperate times, this engaging novel offers a fresh take on how far afield circumstances have already led, and how far they could go.
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