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review
Also in this section: Not your standard Chinese take over Panama tale a review by Eric Jackson
Panama Jack Oh no --- not another tale of Chinese commies using Hutchison Whampoa's ports in Balboa and Cristobal to launch a sneak attack through Panama. That was my impression when first I heard of a new book by the Latin America Business Chronicle's editor, Joachim Bamrud. But then, although Bamrud's publication may indicate that the man has different politics than mine, it's also Exhibit A for the proposition that he's no ignorant fanatic, nor does he write for such people. You wouldn't expect trite stuff based on far-right paranoia out of the editor of the Latin America Business Chronicle, and in fact you don't get it in his new book "Panama Jack" --- even if its promotion does use the "threat" of a Hong Kong company operating ports here as its principal hook. This book has several weaknesses. It could have used some better proofreading in the production stage. Part of the basic premise of the plot is physically improbable for anybody who knows the dimensions and operating procedures of the Panama Canal --- but I won't tell you what that problem is, because this is an entertaining little thriller and if I pointed out the technical problem it would give too much of the plot away. I wouldn't want to spoil a good read. The moral of the story is educational. The lesson is not that we who live on the isthmus need to look under our beds for Chinese spies. It's that China may have made a mistake when it closed down Chairman Mao's May Seventh Schools, because deviationists like Johnny Wang don't get their lines corrected before causing considerable annoyance. But maybe The Party isn't really the best control device for depraved antisocial elements like this, let alone Panama's best defense against them, in any case. And maybe those sent to investigate and foil an audacious plot, and those who take on the task of meting out rough justice in the end, are other than whom you would expect. If you run across a copy of this little thriller, buy it. Improbable as this story might be, it's good entertainment for the rainy season days to come.
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