Wild at Heart: A Wild Cards Retrospctive - Suicide Kings

The last book in the Committee triad is probably the easiest to summarize. If there's one major citritcism of the previous two books, it's that they are a bit too overstuffed. Inside Straight had to balance its Middle East plot thread against its reality show plotline. Busted Flush had five different narratives going on  at once.  

Luckily, in Suicide Kings, there is one plot that connects all the stories: Tom Weathers, the hero know as the Radical (written by Vic Milan) has gone mad. The former hippie hero has thrown in his lot with the military dictatorship, the People's Paradise of Africa, helping their army as they expand their territory.

But as the PPA expands, member of the Ace hero team, the Committee, are drawn into the conflict. Wally Gunderson, the gentle giant  known as Rustbelt (written by Ian Tregellis) is sponsoring a child who lives in the People's Paradise of Africa.  When the child goes missing, Rustbelt turns to a fellow Committee member, Jerusha Carter, the plant controlling Gardner (written by Stephen Leigh) to go into the PPA to find the child. 

Michell Pond, the Amazing Bubbles,  (written by Caroline Spector) has a similar motivation: She has begun receiving a psychic distress call from a child being tortured inside the PPA. This compels her to mount a rescue mission of her own.  In addition, the Committee tasks Johnathan Hive (written by Daniel Abraham), its resident reporter, with discovering the Radical's backstory and uncovering his weaknesses. Even former Committee member and former spy Double Helix (written by Melinda Snodgrass) get's in on the act after a debt to a former colleague send him on a mission to sow discord between the Radical and the leadership of the PPA.

But the Radical's greatest enemy come from within. For buried within the Radicals' psyche is his alter ego Captain Trips (also written by Victor Milan) whose about to make his own play for control of their shared body, a conflict whose outcome will determine the fates of everyone concerned. Because only one thing is certain; not everyone is going to make it out of this story alive.

If there a weak link in the book it was Johnathan Hive's search for the Radical's backstory.  Captain Trips/ the Radical's origin was established way back in Book One but the book treats it like a mystery. As a long-time reader,  It was frustrating watching the characters run around trying to find information that I already knew.  I suppose that the segment was intended to catch up new readers but the information could have been conveyed in a couple pages instead of spreading it out over the whole book.

However,  this is otherwise a strong finish for the Committee storyline.  Most of the the plot's generally have their own room to breathe.  Making the Radical the central antagonist of the book was a good move as every plot thread focuses on that, allowing the different part to fell choices than they did in Busted Flush.   I liked the feeling that every characters was rushing towards disaster and the novel willingness to kill off major characters, including one of the leads. A solid 4/5.

Addendum: Several of the characters introduced in this volume will get stories in later volumes specifically the children, Adesina Pond (Morpho Girl)  and the Darkness. Another character who will appear in stories late on the space manipulating ace, Tessaract makes a full appearance in this volume for the first time after being mentioned in the last volume.