Concert of Ghosts

In his sixth novel, a narrative that sounds notes both chilling and nostalgic, Armstrong ( Agents of Darkness ) evokes a paranoia that may strike familiar chords in survivors of the '60s counterculture. Ex-hippie Harry Tennant is busted in upstate New York for growing pot. While awaiting trial, he's approached by a young writer, Alison Seagrove, who is researching a piece about a photo of Harry and four others that became an icon of the hippie movement. But Harry doesn't remember either the picture or the others in it; were his memories erased by the drugs he was taking? Worried and puzzled, he decamps with Alison on a cross-country attempt to recover his memory. On their journey Harry talks about his father, a lawyer whose defense of an Army colonel charged with atrocities in Vietnam shamed Harry into estrangement. Gradually Harry finds his past growing more and more accessible and steadily more horrifying; meanwhile he and Alison suspect that they are being followed--and one night their suspicions are confirmed as a man is shot while trying to lob a grenade into their motel room. Armstrong steadily increases the suspense as he slowly reveals a far-reaching political conspiracy that is also a profound personal betrayal. (Jan.)