Splintered

London’s tale about the consequences of lying in D.C. is a strange concoction that unsuccessfully mixes a children’s story with lobbying skullduggery. Pinocchio, it seems, is an analyst at a lobbying firm that has lost its former idealism. Charles Stevens, the senior partner for the Kronos Group, needs some leverage on Congressman Frank Barnes to effectively overturn Barnes’s previous legislation protecting the speckled owl. He seizes on a fender bender between Pinocchio and the congressman, whose female passenger was definitely not his wife, to pressure the congressman, using Pinocchio’s testimony in front of the congressional committee to drive home his point. Everything takes a left turn when Pinocchio’s lies return him to his former state as a wooden puppet. Fairies and talking flora and fauna take the stage, including Pinocchio’s old conscience, who turns out to be a cockroach rather than a cricket. London injects thriller elements like the kidnapping of Pinocchio’s family, but the two sides of the story simply don’t mesh. It doesn’t help matters that this reads like a second-rate morality tale for teens. [em](BookLife) [/em]