, the acquisition-hungry CEO of Houston\u2019s Conquest Corporation signs a deal to buy a California-based telecommunications research and development company named Bluestream. But the purchase quickly unleashes a chain reaction of troubles inside Conquest that include stolen files, blackmail, questionable funding, and more.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
The author, a former Houston lawyer, keeps the \u201cusual suspects\u201d of corporate thrillers\u2014ambition, greed, sex, power, scheming executives, and a nosy investigative reporter\u2014on entertaining display. At the same time, two creative choices set his tale apart from many thrillers that unfold inside global-powerhouse corporations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
First, Jungman\u2019s book employs an uncommon structure: almost every chapter is composed of vignette clusters. The reader is taken inside the separate worlds of several characters during a single time segment. This approach helps track Bluestream<\/em>\u2019s nine main characters and their developing importance to the story\u2019s outcome.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Second, Houston itself contributes to how the plot plays out. Jungman includes four vignettes drawn from key moments in the Bayou City\u2019s history: its founding in 1839, the 1901 discovery of oil at Spindletop, how fortunes were made in the 1949 oil boom, and how fortunes were lost in the 1983 oil crash. All of these events helped shape Houston\u2019s modern business atmosphere (circa 2001). <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\u201cA local boast,\u201d Jungman writes in Bluestream<\/em>, \u201chad it that Houston offered more freedom and opportunity than any other place in America. . . . Houston remained the Wild West of great American cities, an unapologetic bastion of free enterprise, a place that welcomed risk-takers of every stripe and dispensed only mild condemnation to those who turned out to be liars or frauds.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Jungman also works bits of humor into the thoughts, dialogue, and personalities of some of Bluestream<\/em>\u2019s main characters. For Maggie Wheeler, a young corporate wife who \u201cmajored in suntan\u201d at the University of Texas at Austin, Houston holds only mild attraction: \u201cA job was the only reason anyone came to Houston. It was the largest city in the world with an almost complete absence of tourists.\u201d Maggie, however, is learning to adapt. She has, Jungman writes, \u201clearned to switch her Texas accent on and off according to her surroundings.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Conquest\u2019s billionaire CEO, Jack Burnam, had \u201cdonated his time and Conquest\u2019s money\u201d to many Houston civic groups and causes, including a powerful historic-preservation organization, despite his strong bias against it. \u201cJack admired Houston\u2019s [business] heritage, but he drew the line at old buildings,\u201d Jungman writes. \u201cHe thought Houston needed historic preservation as much as it needed ski lifts.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Bluestream<\/span><\/span><\/em> is an absorbing corporate-suspense thriller that reflects both a major city\u2019s freewheeling business drive and the ease with which powerful organizations can be brought down, not only by corrupt executives but by lowly employees who decide to do the right\u2014even if unprofitable\u2014thing. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Indie review of Bluestream by Michael Jungman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[894,870,813,830,839,838,843,812,841],"class_list":["post-2218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-book-review","tag-lonestarindiereview","tag-lone-star-literary-life","tag-lonestarliterarycom","tag-mystery","tag-review","tag-suspense","tag-texas-author","tag-thriller"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2218\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonestar.a1professionals.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}