"True Fiction" (Thomas & Mercer), by Lee Goldberg

In Lee Goldberg's "True Fiction," Ian Ludlow has reached a high level of success as an author as his series character Clint Straker routinely saves the world in print.

A few years earlier, he was recruited along with several other writers to imagine terrorism scenarios to assist the government in thinking outside the box to prevent another attack.

Ludlow is on tour in Seattle for his latest Straker thriller when he sees on the news that an airplane crashed shortly after takeoff in Hawaii — and it matches the story he imagined for the CIA. When he tries to contact the other authors who were part of this special operation to seek their advice, he discovers that all of them are dead.

Ludlow has felt accident-prone lately and has a broken arm to prove it. Now he begins to wonder if his accidents were attempts on his life. He is paranoid by nature, so he goes into hiding with the young woman assigned to be his author escort while in Seattle. To survive, the writer must become his fictitious character, a superspy.

The sheer absurdity of the story line could have easily become campy or downright unbelievable, but Goldberg knows what he's doing. He has a background in writing for both television and novels and knows how to quickly establish memorable characters.

Goldberg has crafted a clever, silly and exciting thriller that showcases a love for the genre and the world of writing. Hopefully, there is more to come of both Ludlow's adventures and the crafty spy Clint Straker.