The Cooperating Witness

A compelling real-life story-the author's commodities trader husband was arrested and later convicted based on a series of ambiguous and inconclusive discussions he had with an FBI informant pretending to be a wealthy investment banker-doesn't automatically translate into good fiction, as shown by Laken's amateurish debut. A federal prosecutor in Manhattan calls in an unscrupulous FBI informant, Conner Skilling, after receiving an NSA intercept of a telephone conversation between a suspected terrorist and a U.S. Air Force major retired from active duty, Jamal Hassim. The automated program that made the intercept highlighted such key words as ""aircraft,"" ""potential targets"" and ""praise be to Allah"" with no regard to context. Within a week thanks to Skilling's machinations, Hassim, who says he was trying to raise money for innocuous ventures like a seaweed farm in the Philippines, Hassim's wife and many others are charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism and securities fraud. What could have been a powerful cautionary tale gets lost in a jumbled narrative consisting of press releases, court transcripts and Skilling's own recorded ramblings.