Face Value
A Christian Techno-Thriller by Russell Jarvis
Aidan Powell never asked to be different. He only wanted to protect the people he loved. Born with a natural ability to see emotions in color—every lie, every hidden feeling, every flicker of doubt—is visible to Aidan.
As powerful forces target Aidan’s abilities for profit and control, Aidan’s own gift is used against him to advance the utopian program of Shangri-La. The powerful want it. And the people he loves the most may be the first to fall in the battle to obtain it. Will Aidan realize too late that his ability to see emotions is not the same as seeing the truth?
In a world where desires are manipulated and faith is tested, Aidan must decide what it means to trust in a in a God who cannot be fathomed. The cost of truth is high… and some will kill to keep it buried.
Face Value is a gripping Christian techno-thriller that blends suspense, faith, and the peril of unchecked innovation. For readers who enjoy the moral weight of biblical truth and a struggle for survival in a world of power, intrigue, and manipulation – Face Value is for you.
Face Value
A Christian Techno-Thriller by Russell Jarvis
Aidan Powell never asked to be different. He only wanted to protect the people he loved. Born with a natural ability to see emotions in color—every lie, every hidden feeling, every flicker of doubt—is visible to Aidan.
As powerful forces target Aidan’s abilities for profit and control, Aidan’s own gift is used against him to advance the utopian program of Shangri-La. The powerful want it. And the people he loves the most may be the first to fall in the battle to obtain it. Will Aidan realize too late that his ability to see emotions is not the same as seeing the truth?
In a world where desires are manipulated and faith is tested, Aidan must decide what it means to trust in a in a God who cannot be fathomed. The cost of truth is high… and some will kill to keep it buried.
Face Value is a gripping Christian techno-thriller that blends suspense, faith, and the peril of unchecked innovation. For readers who enjoy the moral weight of biblical truth and a struggle for survival in a world of power, intrigue, and manipulation – Face Value is for you.
22 Years Ago / Portsmouth Naval Hospital, Virginia
She only had six months to live. This terrified Jewel Powell at first. And even though the events of the past year had shattered everything she thought her life would be, she felt a tranquility and a quiet clarity that she was fulfilling a worthy purpose. She used to be annoyed by the everyday routines or unexpected chores that she thought were interfering with her life. But somehow, those mundane interferences had evolved into cherished achievements. Getting Aidan, her only child, ready for kindergarten was today’s worthy achievement.
She gave a little grunt as she pushed her way through the bulky doors of the pediatric wing of the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. Jewel was a petite woman with straight brown hair that hung down to the middle of her back. She was running late so she had simply tied her hair in a knot at the nape of her neck. Jewel wore a beige short-sleeved sundress that hung loosely over her thin frame. Gripping Aidan’s hand, she looked around the waiting room. Her son, Aidan junior, was small for a five-year-old, slender with sandy blond hair. He took in his surroundings with wide searching eyes. Jewel blinked rapidly as a waft of urine stung her nose and eyes. Jewel noticed a rumpled woman sitting adjacent to the entrance of the ward engrossed in a Cosmopolitan magazine. A toddler tugged at the woman’s arm. The woman swatted the boy’s hand away. The desperate tot danced in place clenching his darkening crotch. Parents and grandparents populated the interlocking chairs lining the perimeter of the room. The well-dressed wives of officers held their children close as the broods of the enlisted families romped with worn toys strewn across the floor.
Jewel fixed her eyes on a service window across the room where a nurse sat isolated from the waiting room behind a sliding glass panel. Waiting in queue was now her next worthy achievement. In her youth she had entertained grandiose thoughts that she was destined for great things, but providence had other plans. She is now tasked to patiently endure this governmental bureaucracy while the few remaining days of her life ticked quietly away. Aidan must be ready for his future, and she must help make it happen. She took Aidan in tow and weaved her way through the toys and children. The young boy tugged at her hand and leaned toward a broken soldier action figure with a chewed, mangled ear. It was still soaked with saliva from one of the teething children in the waiting room. She tightened her grip on his hand. She stooped down and combed his hair with her fingers.
“Not now, honey. You’ll have a time to play, but now is not the time—” she sighed “—or the place.”
Aidan squeezed his lips together and lowered his eyes. She cupped his face in her hands. A familiar melancholy welled up within her. She was still unaccustomed to being the mother and the father. Her lips briefly moved in a silent prayer. She could see the likeness of her dead husband in Aidan's face. The boy reached out and touched the corner of her mouth. She loved this. His father used to do the very same thing. This was his way of saying, “I love you. Don’t be sad”. She dabbed her eyes and composed herself.
“Now, don’t you worry. The doctor is going to stick you with a needle, maybe more than once. This will get you ready for the big-boy-school. It’s going to hurt. Sometimes, we must do things that hurt to get ready to do big-boy things. But everything works out for the best. We know this, don’t we?”
“Yes ma’am.”
"Aidan, very soon, you will learn that you are just like your father. You will see things that others cannot see. Understand things that others won’t understand. You must be true to God. You must be patient and kind to others no matter what you know is true about them. The Lord will always be with you. Promise me that you’ll never forget that.”
"I promise,” he said.
They approached the counter, and a female nurse pulled the sliding glass window back with a slam. The fragrance of sanitizing cleanser refreshed her confidence in the medical staff, and she handed the nurse her military family ID cards. The nurse was impeccable in her appearance and her demeanor was warm and friendly. But when she read the names on the cards, her smile dimmed a little.
“Good morning, Mrs. Powell. And good morning to you, young man. I’ll bet your name is Aidan. I’ll tell Dr. Taylor you’re here. Just take a seat.”
XXXXX
Dr. Taylor’s pediatric office was clean, efficient, and loaded with stuffed animals. It smelled of mint antiseptic with a hint of cinnamon candy. He loved his work, and he loved helping the families that served in the Navy. This was his calling. Unfortunately, the satisfaction that Dr. Taylor enjoyed in helping families included the difficult job of guiding them through the loss of precious loved ones. This was one of those days. The receptionist knocked on the doorframe of his office, entered, and stood at the front of his desk. She placed two folders directly in front of him. She nudged the top one in front of the doctor and stiffly folded her arms.
“Yes, I saw them in my queue. I know I should have read them.”
“Sir, yesterday, when I set up your schedule, I recognized the little boy's name, Aidan Powell. His father, Aidan Powell senior, was killed in action in northern Iraq three months ago. He was a SEAL. I remembered his name because of his wife, Jewel. She was seeing Dr. Lane. Well…you should see this.”
Taylor scanned over the file and saw that it was for Jewel Powell, not for her little boy. He flipped through the pages and found a series of test results, advanced pancreatic cancer. She had six months to live at most. He sighed and rubbed his eyes.
“Sir, forgive me for saying, but you look awful. How long have you been here?"
“We lost the Jenson girl last night. I was with her parents until about an hour ago.”
“Sir, you’ve been up all night. Do you want me to reschedule the Powell visit?”
“No. What’s the boy here for?”
“Initial checkup for school. Shots,” she said.
“Give me five minutes to freshen up. If Exam Room A is ready, we’ll use that.”
The nurse left and within minutes Mrs. Powell and Aidan junior stood in a small, but well-equipped examination room. Posters of smiling children holding plates heaped with vegetables next to growth charts covered the walls. Taylor entered and started the exam with the best bedside manner he could muster.
“So, Aidan, you look like a strong young man. Would you like to jump up on my examination table?”
Aidan climbed up on the padded bench and seemed proud to make it on his own. Dr. Taylor slid a stool in front of the boy and sat down eye to eye with his young patient. The toddler simply stared at the doctor’s face. Taylor pulled a pen out of his pocket and held it up in front of the boy’s eyes moving it from side to side. Aidan continued to stare straight ahead.
“Just follow the pen with your eyes.”
Aidan ignored the pen. He continued to stare directly at the doctor’s face. The boy seemed to grow more concerned by the second. He finally reached out and touched the corner of Taylor’s mouth.
“What are you doing, Aidan?”
“I want to change it.”
“Change it? Change what?”
“Your smile. It’s not right. It changes when I touch it. I want to fix it.”
Mrs. Powell sighed, and her shoulders slumped. She placed her hand on her son’s arm. The doctor could see the stark contrast between the two, how weak and pale this woman was. This simple effort seemed to tax her. But something else was going on here that troubled him. The boy’s behavior was puzzling.
“Aidan, honey, now is not the time. Just do what Dr. Taylor says.”
“But, mom, he’s so yellow.”
“Aidan, honey, please."
“Yellow?” asked Dr. Taylor looking at Mrs. Powell.
“Sad,” she said, “he means sad.”
“Yellow here and here,” said Aidan pointing to the creases by Taylor’s mouth and around his eyes.
“You’re really yellow, but you are trying to trick me. You’re not happy. You’re sad. I can still see it.”
“I am yellow, but I am trying to trick you?”
Aidan nodded. Dr. Taylor raced through the pages of his mind for diseases or injuries that would produce this type of bizarre symptom or behavior. He had just lost a little girl to cancer and now this boy may have something seriously wrong with him. A wave of fatigue made Taylor close his eyes and he instantly saw the face of the Jenson girl and her parents, grief stricken in his mind. He felt the gentle touch of the boy’s hand again and when he opened his eyes, he saw Aidan with his arms extended.
“When I’m sad, I feel better if I’m sad with someone else,” he whispered.
Aidan wrapped his arms around Dr. Taylor’s neck and squeezed him tightly. The doctor could not help but let out a heavy sigh. This boy would be an orphan in six months. He felt a warm tear run down his own cheek. It surprised him and he tried to blink it back. He pulled back from Aidan’s embrace. Aidan sprung at the doctor and flung his arms around his neck again. Aidan whispered into his ear.
“It’s going to be okay.”
“How do you know?” he whispered back.
“I don’t know how I know. I just do. God will make it okay.”
Dr. Taylor composed himself. The boy’s mother gave her son a gentle hug and pressed her faced against his. Dr. Taylor could now see Jewel Powell’s eyes tinged with jaundice. Death was coming, maybe sooner than diagnosed. The doctor picked up Aidan’s charts and flipped through the pages. There it was. He read the diagnosis, Synesthesia. Synesthesia was a rare neurological condition in which stimulation of one or more senses are combined in a unique way to produce unusual perceptions of the patient’s surroundings, in this case, color.
“Aidan’s a synesthete,” he said.
“Yes, he is so much like his father. No, exactly like his father,” she said.
“I’ve read about synesthesia in medical school, but never actually saw a real case. Amazing.” He paused as though debating whether he should continue. “Mrs. Powell, please forgive me for being intrusive, but have you made plans for Aidan. After–”
“Yes. There is one family I trust to take Aidan and they have agreed. They’re family, but not by blood. I don’t have any immediate family and my husband’s relatives have made it clear that they don’t want to deal with Aidan’s …vision issues.
Dr. Taylor turned to Aidan. He studied the boy’s face. He was looking for some evidence of what this poor boy was feeling. Was it contentment? Was it hope? Or was he simply trusting what his mother had told him. He wondered what Aidan would see in his own mirror a year from now. The boy seemed so sensitive to the feelings of others. How could he not? Feelings were literally painted on their faces. But one day, maybe very soon, Aidan would learn that a broken heart cannot be healed by the touch of his finger. On that day, he may feel cursed with the ability to see problems that he cannot fix. Aidan’s words echoed in his mind, “Everything is going to be okay”. Dr. Taylor prayed that it would be.
Face Value by Russell N. Jarvis is a powerful, gripping story that I found particularly appealing because advanced, futuristic high-tech lies at its core. It's an original techno-thriller—action-packed, fast-paced, sinister, intriguing, and realistic. Once I became absorbed in the story (around p. 110), I truly couldn't put it down!
The story revolves around three main pillars: the 2003–2011 US–Iraq War, a high-profile million-dollar project, and Christianity.
A team of Navy SEALs—consisting of a colonel commander, a (psychologist) chaplain, two closely knit high-profile soldiers, and others—went to the war. Aiden Powell, one of the inseparable pair, falls at the battlefront, and the team returns from Iraq without him. His wife and five-year-old son, Aidan Powell Jr., survived and grieved him.
Concealed behind the mists of the past also lies a high-profile story of treachery that led to Aidan Sr.'s death.
Like his father, Aidan Jr. suffers from synesthesia. This rare neurological condition enables him to see people's emotions in color. For example, a synesthete can read emotions by observing the corresponding colors that appear on a person's face: yellow (say) for happiness, red for anger, and so on. Most relevant to this story, this awesome "gift" allows Aidan to detect lies with remarkable clarity. It becomes crucial in unraveling the dark faces in this story as he notes the lies they tell and accordingly devises plans to expose and trap them.
The former SEAL chaplain runs a grand, million-dollar, futuristic project that combines nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information technology. It promises to usher in an era of world peace by ending human hatred and destructive tendencies. Nanotech intervention is the means used to achieve this goal. Briefly explained, specialized nanobots are designed to enter the brain and alter the intensity of destructive emotions, reducing them to harmless or negligible levels. Consequently, the subject becomes disinclined to harmful behavior—effectively becoming "harmless," or even "good."
Christianity, the third pillar, gets slowly woven into the story from the start. It gradually gains momentum as the narrative progresses, inviting changes of heart at critical moments. However, while some characters change their ways, others look the other way.
In the end, the story collides head-on with the invincible Ancient of Days—Jesus Christ—just as the villains seem poised to seize victory. The Lord concludes the tale with a grand finale: He allows the stubborn to destroy themselves but saves those who had turned back to Him.
The book’s cover is OK, but in my opinion, only partially reflects its contents, making me wish it were enhanced. The readability is excellent, and the story is riveting. However, it has sporadic errors—mostly typos, but like a fly in the ointment, it becomes significant when assigning a rating. Taking the positives and negatives together into consideration, I rate it 4 stars.
This captivating book is for adults (18 and above), first for Americans, and second, for the English-literate all over the world. A STEM background is essential to fully understand and appreciate it. Consequently, I recommend it more for engineers, doctors, biologists, scientists, computer/IT professionals, futurists, etc., than for non-STEM readers. Finally, it has considerable cinematic potential, so I advise that movie-makers check it out too.