Lorraine Adams

I very much enjoyed Adams' previous novel, Harbor, a story of Algerians who stowaway on ship to the US and what becomes of them. Her latest novel brings us the story behind what could be headlines on any given day.

A pilot ejects from her F16 Viper just before it crashes in the Potomac River at night, the lights of the Watergate Hotel twinkling in the distance. The pilot is Captain Mary "Extra" Goodwin and it is her story that is the anchor line in this complex literary thriller.

The "room" of the book's title is the newsroom of a prominent D.C. newspaper, always a flurry of activity, but now scrambling to sort fact from rumor about the crash, and as fast as they can. We see how the newsroom works in fascinating detail.

The "chair" of the book's title is Will Holmes, former soldier and spook now running a secretive agency—the one responsible for the crash—which was testing a remote way to control a plane without the pilot knowing it, a way to stop suicide pilots—without Capt. Goodwin's knowledge.

The narrative moves In alternating segments between several plotlines, following numerous characters (some more prominent than others), in an elaborate, sometimes dizzying dance from D.C. to Iran and Afghanistan, as the author brings it all her pieces together. Her characters are wonderfully done, credible and fascinating each in their own way. I'm not sure I expected to be so totally mesmerized by this book, but the author carries us along, voyeurs to things usually unseen, and witnesses to the lives affected. It's hard to turn away. And yet, there were places where I got a bit lost, and there is something I can't quite identify that keeps me short of raving about the book (but please, don't let that stop you from reading it).… (mais)