Performance seminars have long been the bane of the corporate world, yet few authors have explored them in fiction to the candid degree that Brooks (Darkness Bound) does here. The first third of this addictive thriller introduces Brad Teeters, Mark Johnson and Pamela Wiley, three dedicated yet bitter senior employees at Wright & Wong, a successful Seattle-based ad agency. When the trio propose to buy out the firm, Wong agrees, stipulating that all three employees must first attend The Seminar, a week-long retreat for executives at a secluded site in northern California. In detailed prose, Brooks captures the first 60 hours of The Seminar, during which facilitators simulate airplane crashes and hostage takeovers in an effort to teach inner strength and trust. But when one of The Seminar's mind games goes awry, Teeters, Johnson and Wiley become unwittingly ensnared in an evil scheme masterminded by Wong and Beth, Teeters's sexy, manipulative wife. Beth, who up to this point has been a secondary character, becomes the focal point of an intricate conclusion involving betrayed friendships, apparent suicides and kinky sex games. A master of terror and suspense, Brooks crafts his characters with care, lending them opaque dimensions that make them appear both sympathetic and loathsome. (Dec. 4)
