I've been reading Nancy Kress since her 1991 novella 'Beggars In Spain' won the Nebula. Her Science Fiction has always been leading edge in terms of her ideas and human in terms of its scale. Recently, I've become interested in her Climate Fiction, starting with her short story “A Hundred Hundred Daisies” John Joseph Adams' powerful anthology, 'Loosed Upon The World' and then her innovative novella 'After The Fall Before The Fall During The Fall’

'Oaths and Miracles' was a re-read for me, although the last time I read it was 1998 and in the following twenty-two years, most of the details, including the reveal of what the bad guys were up to, faded from my memory. I recently released my physical copy of the book into the wild but I wasn't quite ready to let it go, so I picked up an ebook copy and did a re-read.

'Oaths and Miracles' is a Techno-Thriller, of the kind that Michael Crichton popularised. In 1991 that was still a young genre and this book stood out because it focused on possible threats coming from the rapid development of the science of human genetics on the back of the Human Genome Project.

Reading it today, much of the science sounds familiar. Oddly, this increased the sense of threat in the book as it made what the bad guys were trying to do seem quite plausible.

It's not my favourite Nancy Kress novel but it is still an entertaining thriller with a strong idea at its centre and a series of people in peril. It's a strange mix as it's about the Mafia involving themselves in genetic engineering research and being willing to kill large numbers of people to achieve their goal and protect their secret.

The plot follows separate storylines that are initially hard to see the links between but which eventually twist around one another into a knot. We had the Las Vegas showgirl who knows something she shouldn't, the ex-cult member trying to get access to his wife and kids, a science journalist married to a leading scientist researching the mechanics of gene therapy and an FBI agent trying to build his first RICO case.

I enjoyed the puzzle the book pivoted around and the way the plot sustained tension and a sense of urgency. I thought the ex-cult member was well-drawn. I particularly liked the scenes where he's dealing with the radio and TV show hosts who are trying to turning his frustration and fear into viewing figures. The two main characters, the journalist and the FBI man didn't quite work for me. The journalist was essential to the plot to explain the science, make the links to religion and to put a human face on the story. All of that worked but I thought her interior monologues were a little flat. The FBI man was an interesting invention, with his compulsion to think by drawing cartoons and writing poetry mashups (although that phrase hadn't been coined at the time. My main problem wasn't that I didn't believe in him but that I didn't like him.

There is a second book featuring this FBI agent but I'll pass. I'd rather spend the time reading Kress' 'Probability Moon' which is in my TBR pile.
( )

Lesser Kress. This is a bio-tech thriller, not an SF novel. That means the SF element is a MacGuffin. The actual spine of the story is good guys (sort of) versus organized crime. Pretty much everyone is broken at the start. We first meet a Las Vegas dancer, trying to escape her small hometown, who is traumatized after seeing her best friend deliberately run down by gangsters. She meets an FBI agent looking for his first RICO case. He can't stop faxing odd cartoons and notes to his ex-wife, who eventually puts a restraining order on him. Next up is the wife of an up and coming biologist on the verge of a breakthrough. She is traumatized when he is bludgeoned to death by a professional killer, apparently on his way to his mistress. Finally there is an alcoholic wife-abusing escapee from a cult in upstate New York, desperate to get his wife and kids from said cult. Throw in a mysterious phrase "Cadoc. Verico. Cadaverico." and off the book goes. The characterizations are fine, and though it doesn't really matter, Kress can't help doing a solid job on the biological aspects of the MacGuffin. Where the book is weak is in a fair number of info-dumps, not only about said MacGuffin, but about the working processes of the FBI and the requirements for a RICO investigation.

Readable. If you're a Kress completist or have a soft spot for thrillers, this is fine. But it's not essential reading. ( )

My reaction to reading this novel in 1997. Spoilers follow.

In marketing (the spine says “thriller”) and style this is more of a contemporary suspense novel than sf. However, Kress once again takes her specialty – the consequences of genetic engineering – and makes a fast-reading, well-written (none of her usual problems with weak endings) novel dealing with a chillingly plausible bit of speculation – engineered cold viruses programmed to induce heart attacks in a specific individual. Kress ends her novel with three news stories each illustrating a point about genetic technology. The mobsters trying to develop the ultimate assassination weapon are indicted. However, the secret appears uncontained since the President of Mexico dies of a mysterious heart attack. The same knowledge also seems to promise a cure for cancer – neatly illustrating the double-headed nature of all technology.

This book is compelling though the usual elements of chase and on-stage violence are few (the assault on the Cadoc commune and the attempts on Judy Kozinski’s life), and Kress relies a bit too much on coincidence in having Kozinski duck her head unknowingly at a convenient time to avoid being shot. Kress also commits that most annoying of thriller clichés: having a man and woman meet in the course of events and fall in love, though, to her credit, Robert Cavanaugh and Judy Kozinski’s romance is hinted at taking place at novel’s end.

What most impressed me about this novel was not only Kress’ usual thought-provoking use of genetic engineering and its moral questions, but her characters and how they all relate to the themes of lost love and spontaneous moral order. All three main characters are somehow dealing with loosing a loved one through estrangement (Cavanaugh and Wendell Botts) or death (Judy Cavanaugh). Cavanaugh posts so many letters and faxes to his estranged wife she gets a restraining order against him. Botts desperately tries to stay sober and draw attention to the Soldiers of the Divine Covenant commune where his ex-wife and children are. Kozinski suffers violent mood swings and months of despair after her husband is murdered. Her sanity is only restored by investigating why her husband was killed.

Orson Scott Card has criticized sf writers for creating characters in a vacuum bereft of family. That is certainly not true here. Kress herself has criticized sf writers for depicting childless worlds and characters. That is certainly not true here. Botts is a man futilely, desperately trying to win his children back. Each of these characters are trying to serve some idea of a moral order. Cavanaugh is concerned with justice – and his career. Kozinski is trying to solve a mystery. (She compares this desire to her physicist and lay-theologian father who seeks mystery in God). Botts has the most basic desire: restoration of his father.

Religion is an element here with Judy’s father, a devout Catholic, noting everything isn’t solvable. I suspect this is a belief of Kress given the political irresolution in her Beggars in Spain), that something always happens … to change our picture of the universe. Religious faith provides succor (of a habitual sort) to Kozinski when the Cadoc compound is assaulted (another plot coincidence with her being there when it happened). Botts falls back on religion too when his wife dies. Of course, the Divine Covenant compound is a problematic example. It is never corrupted into willingly sacrificing humans, though. Kress, at novel’s end, seems to postulate that a moral order can only exist in the modern world through the acts of conscientious individuals. Agent Cavanaugh and the FBI can not break the mobsters behind Verico. The courage of individuals, Kress seems to say, will be necessary in a world with such powerful genetic manipulation. ( )

http://www.epinions.com/content_188856176260

Recommend: No

Pros:
Strong characterization (for the most part), somewhat interesting story but

Cons:
not an interesting read. Multiple POV is distracting, book is confused and cluttered.

The Bottom Line:
Nancy Kress can write very good short stories, but I do not recommend this book as a method to sample her work. The multiple POV method is annoying.

Full Review:
A book told from many points of view. Points of view: 1) A young woman experiences a major shock when her friend is run down by a car, right in front of her, and decides to give up the Vegas showgirl life to return home and go to college. 2) A relatively young FBI agent wants to head up his own case, and might have gotten more than he can handle when he is tasked with investigating a biotech company and its possible mafia connections. 3) A woman is worried that her husband is cheating on her. The husband is a top DNA scientist and has just been offered a great high paying job with a biotech firm. Suddenly the husband is dead and the woman falls apart. Eventually she pulls herself together and tries to track down the killer. 4) Meanwhile a father struggles to stay sober, stay in his job and gain back his children and ex-wife. The children and ex-wife are members of a cult that the father fears might have started sacrificing humans.

Author: Nancy Kress
Title: Oaths and Miracles
Series: FBI Agent Robert Cavanaugh (sequel - 1998's Stinger)
Place in Series: 1st

Books Read by Author: only this one
Book Average Rating: 3.80
Short Stories: 13
Short Story Average Rating: 3.76
Short Story Highest Rated: 4.90
Short Story Lowest Rated: 3.00
Read Author Again?: In book form, not likely.
Quick Note: POV = Point of View - the story is told from the point of view of a particular character (or narrator).

Plot: The book is told from the point of view of four characters and the story unfolds through their "eyes."

The book opens with a Vegas show-girl stumbling down the stairs during a performance (the person in front of her on the stairs keeps her from failing completely). She appears glassy-eyed, and maybe drugged. Eventually she completes the fall by slumping forward and sitting down on the steps. The girl behind her in the line steps down onto her, and the entire line on that side of the stage ends up collapsed on the stage. The singer continues singing (red-faced), and the other line of dancers continues to dance. The stage manager drags the drugged looking girl off the stage and deposits her in the bathroom. The girl's friend, a fellow female dancer, searches for her, finds her and drags her from the building (oh, and the stage manager informs this friend that the girl is fired). Apparently, the glassy-eyed dancer isn't on drugs but is in fact in a state of shock. Her boyfriend was murdered that day and the girl believes that she is next. The friend shoves her into a car and drives to the airport. Once at the airport, they head toward the entrance, but the friend returns to her car because she forgot something. Just then, a car picks up speed and slams into the glassy-eyed, now dead, girl. The girl's friend (whose name is unfortunately forgotten by me) is one POV (1), but a very minor character. Another character, a much larger character, and another POV, interviews the girl.

FBI Agent Robert Cavanaugh (POV 2) was in Vegas on other business and was the closest agent. Cavanaugh interviews the girl but can't get anything out of her, except that the girl plans to leave immediately, return home, and enroll in college. After that interview Cavanaugh returns to Washington DC.

Meanwhile, a husband and wife were also in Vegas and are also on their way back to the east coast. The wife (Judy O'Brien Kozinski; POV 3) is another POV and major character. Dr. Ben Kozinski is a very handsome intelligent and prominent DNA scientist who is in Las Vegas to present a paper. Judy, a very insincere woman that can't stop nagging her husband nor thinking that she isn't really good enough for him, is in Vegas to interview a prominent scientist (she is a science reporter). While in Vegas, Ben receives a very good offer to join a struggling biotech firm. The husband and wife fly back to the east coast, the husband interviews for the job, and shortly afterward, he ends up dead.

Right before Ben is murdered (the fact of his death has already been mentioned in the book by this point, the book goes backwards in time, somewhat, to get the FBI's story), FBI Agent Cavanaugh is informed of a potential mafia connection with this particular biotech company and is sent off to investigate (one of the pieces of evidence is an anonymous tip sent in that mentions the possible connections, and warns that Ben Kozinski should be warned off). Right as Cavanaugh is leaving the office to head up to the biotech company, a phone call is received notifying the agent's that Ben is dead. Cavanaugh heads to New Jersey and interviews Judy.

Later both Cavanaugh and Judy separately search for Ben's killer, while Cavanaugh is also trying to tie the biotech company to the mafia (referred to in the book as "The Relatives"). Judy uses the investigative skills of a science reporter to attempt to track down her husband's killer. Judy works alone and her questions disturb the criminals enough that Judy finds herself on the run for her life. Cavanaugh, on the other hand, works inside the FBI and has a lot of help (including from other government agencies and local police).

The fourth POV, whose storyline started earlier in the book, is one Wendell Botts. Mr. Botts had been a drunk and abusive man who broke his own little girl’s arm and ended up in jail. Oh, and at the time, he was a member of the “Soldiers of the Divine Covenant” cult that really hates blood (can’t get blood transfusions, can’t eat meat, etc.) but likes ritualistically sacrificing animals. Botts isn’t a member of the pacifist Soldiers anymore, but his ex-wife, daughter, and young son are still members. Botts has tried to clean up, he has stopped drinking, goes nightly to AA meetings and has a steady construction job (he’s saving up his paychecks to show his worth). Botts wants to get his wife and children back, but at the moment, only gets very brief visitation rights (the kids visit him, the unpure are not allowed on Soldiers property). Somewhere along the line, Botts gets it into his head that the Soldiers are now conducting human sacrifice and tries to spread the news to the media. Eventually some in the media pay attention to him, but in the end, this doesn’t help him retrieve his kids. Yes, this particular POV thread does in fact eventually interact with two others (the now college student POV thread is very small, and never intersects Bott’s POV thread).

The book continues . . .

One point of view, the ex-Vegas showgirl's, comes from a very thin character, and her section just barely qualifies as her POV. Though FBI Agent Cavanaugh's character continues on to a sequel, his character's point of view and "screen time" is about equal to Judy's section of the book. Botts "screen time" falls somewhat short of Judy and Cavanaugh's.

Review: The various POV threads are distracting and annoying, and none of the characters are very interesting (or someone I would like to read about - follow for a full book). Judy is too whiny, the ex-Vegas show-girl's part is too small and thin to get a handle on, the FBI Agent is too full of himself and anti-lawyer, while Botts swears too much. Three of the main POV characters are fully formed, with just the ex-Vegas show-girl ending up having a rather thin cipher-like character. The story structure is annoying, and the plot is somewhat absurd. Overall, I am very disappointed that I ever started to read this book and would highly recommend readers to skip this book (but I would recommend that readers try to find and sample Kress' short stories, because Kress does, occasionally, know how to write good stories). Overall, I would give the book 3.80 stars. ( )