The Atlantis Gene

From the opening pages, the discovery of a Nazi submarine embedded in a mountain of ice spurs a mystery that Riddle slowly unravels over the course of the novel. The mystery is deepened by the discovery of a strange, technologically advanced structure beneath the submarine. The juxtaposition of the very antiquated with the very advanced poses a series of questions that propel the narrative forward. That juxtaposition also allows Riddle to toy with the idea of past and future and how they might be connected. Furthermore, the fact that it is a Nazi submarine adds a sinister air to the mystery. Readers are primed to suspect foul play whenever Nazis are involved, and the journal serves up Konrad Kane in all his racist, Aryan malevolence.

Riddle incorporates “news” clippings and press releases to add authenticity to the story’s fictional events. This recurring motif gives the impression that these catastrophic events—including a gunfight in the streets of Jakarta, the emergence of a new flu strain, and the destruction of a research facility in China—are actually happening in real time. It also provides a window into the problem of media bias. Riddle’s narrative comprises the “real” events, to which the reader is privy, but that “reality” is set against another reality: the interpretation of events by the news media. An Al Jazeera article, for example, reports that Warner is the chief suspect in the kidnapping of the boys, and that her lab held over 100 children “who were taken without their parents’ consent” (150). Readers know this is untrue but are allowed a glimpse into the PR strategies and corrupt practices of the Indonesian police, which are echoed by the media without question. On a narrative level, these news articles add a dose of rhetorical ethos to the story, but on another level, they offer a lesson: take your news with a grain of salt.

Riddle reduces complex conflicts to “good guys versus bad guys.” In a letter to Josh Cohen, Vale says, “I’ve collected a little money over the years, mostly from bad guys we put out of business” (99). He consistently frames events as us-versus-them—“us” being the good guys. Implications of corruption and abuse of power aside, Vale sees the world in stark black and white. While convenient moral compartmentalization is overly reductive and fails to consider a host of factors such as psychology or socioeconomic conditions, it accurately reflects a particular mindset. Vale’s life depends on his ability to make fast decisions, and worrying about whether someone’s damaged psyche is at the root of their behavior—Sloane’s father issues, for example—could cost him dearly. Also, deep psychological probing would slow down Riddle’s rapid-fire plot. In short, easy moral binaries fit the genre better than extensive exploration of motive.