Unblessed by Roger Simpson

Publisher's Synopsis

Within hours of arriving in New York City, Jane is dragged into a case and finds herself up against one of the toughest minds she’s ever had to crack: a Silicon Valley billionaire whose ex-business partner has just been murdered.

Sarah Noble is the darling of the tech world – the genius behind an AI defence system that hijacks enemy missiles. But when Sarah’s estranged business partner is killed in a mysterious plane crash, suspicion immediately falls on one of the few people who could hack the plane’s guidance system and had a motive to do so: Sarah herself.

Against her better judgement, Jane agrees to profile Sarah and is immediately drawn into a world beyond her control, where money is no object, murder a tool of trade and the stakes go straight to the heart of the United States itself.

My Review of Unblessed by Roger Simpson

The 3rd book in the Jane Halifax series finds Jane in New York visiting her stepdaughter who is in the process of producing an album. It seems Zoe’s musical career is on the verge of taking off. But this merely puts Jane in the crosshairs of a brewing legal stoush with her specialist skills as a forensic psychologist putting her in high demand. 

Jane is approached by Zoe’s lawyer to meet with his boss who is representing autistic billionaire tech whizz Sarah Noble in a murder case. Her business partner and CFO had just died in a plane crash - the company’s plane. Suggestions have been made that Sarah is capable of hacking into the controls of the airplane and intentionally crashed it.

The fact that Sarah and her partner had been at odds in the lead up to the crash definitely doesn’t help the case. In fact, she had just sacked her partner from the company and, as a result, the company’s share price was in free fall. The nature of their business, technology enabling the interception and redirection of missiles, is both technical and sensitive in nature. The Department of Defense has a significant stake in it and depends on Sarah’s mental acuity to remain focused on the job.

It’s Jane’s job to keep Sarah on the straight and narrow through the difficult time of dealing with the court case, the slavering press pack and Sarah’s tendency toward non-conformity.

This is a setup that has a great deal of potential but, unfortunately very little is actually delivered. An autistic billionaire genius who’s in the process of designing and building a new high tech weapons system for the military should have provided many moments of fascinating insights and nuance. Unfortunately none of the promise is realised.

Instead, what we’re given is a meandering snoozefest where very little happens for way too long. A court ordered home detention puts the brakes on any hint of action, Sarah remains stand-offish and limits interaction with Jane and Jane’s unclear of her reason for being there.

The question of who was responsible for the plane crash becomes a peripheral issue while the main focus is drawn to the company’s latest weapon invention. And even that is poorly described and kept in the background, merely discussed in the vaguest of terms.

It felt to me that the brief moments of action that took place were scattered among long periods of inaction within the billionaire’s estate. It all moved along at a slow pace and the attempts at building up tension simply fell flat. Repeated mentions of a falling share price, secondhand accounts of ongoing legal wranglings and vague attempts by Jane to offer her psychiatric expertise all conspired to cripple any flow in the story.

In looking around for things in the story I actually enjoyed, I can pinpoint the camaraderie formed between Jane and Sarah’s bodyguard Joey Fatialofa. This, at least, provided some moments of solid character development as the pair worked out together, discussed important issues and had each other’s backs in some of the hairier moments.

This episode of Jane Halifax fp failed to deliver the drama and keen insights from Jane herself that shone in the two earlier books. It just all fell a bit flat and failed to hold my attention.