Synopsis
While Alison Hope puts her life on the line in London in a case of computer fraud, Inspector Nick Trevellyan, her beau, remains in their English country village to track down a rapist
Reviews
Lovers/sleuths Alison Hope and Inspector Nick Trevellyan part company for most of this uneven addition to the series begun with Hope Against Hope . Stylish Alison takes time off from her successful software company in Britain's Hop Valley for an incognito gig in London where she poses as a mousy programmer to unmask a malevolent computer hacker who is destroying an old friend's business. She finds a corpse beside a keyboard and an office full of suspects, including, unbeknownst to her, yet another undercover software spy. Meanwhile, Nick deals with the rape of a 13-year-old girl and a younger policewoman's troubling but tempting romantic attentions, which come at a rocky time in his and Alison's romance. Events severely test them both in a tale that spends as much time exploring their relationship as it does solving the two crimes. Pacing and clarity are a problem as Kelly fuzzily interlaces the crime puzzles with the sleuthing pair's emotional quandaries.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Newly elevated to the rank of Detective Chief Inspector, Hopbridge CID, Nick Trevellyan (Time of Hope, etc.) must now find the village rapist who targets youngsters the age of Girl Guides, and he must do so with an ambitious new partner, Sheila Walpoke, while his usual sergeant is in hospital and his lady-love, computer-whiz Alison Hope, is off in London trying to find the hacker who's menacing her pal Philip's computer firm. In their separate cases, Nick and Alison each overlook alibi glitches, leading on the one hand to another rape attempt, and on the other to the murder of Philip's Technical Support Manager, the cantankerous and brilliant Zac. Nick will go hand-to-hand with the rapist and Alison will witness the suicide of the murderer before their cases conclude and they reunite. Not much spark here: Nick and Alison are nice enough, if a tad dull--but as before, their ever-so-civilized conversation and mundane insights make for only mildly diverting fare. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
With a title like this, readers may wrongly assume that Kelly's latest is either a soap opera or a romantic thriller. Wrong. Hope isn't an emotion here; it's the surname of the intrepid heroine, Alison Hope, computer whiz and owner of a highly successful London software firm. No raven-haired romantic, Hope is smart, shrewd, and independent, as her cop boyfriend, Inspector Nick Trevellyan, can attest. Kelly's third book in her rather unfortunately named "Hope" series has Alison helping her friend Philip discover which of his employees is playing a nasty game of computer fraud. Meanwhile, Nick is determined to find the rapist who has already victimized two teenage girls in the small village of Hopbridge. Kelly has skillfully interwoven a whole series of lively subplots with the Alison/Nick storylines, and she's created a cast of appealing characters who are variously shy, bold, earnest, eccentric, tough, funny, and odious. There's humor, action, suspense, and romance--in short, all the right ingredients to make this mystery a winner. Emily Melton
Series duo Alison Hope and Inspector Nick Trevellyan part ways to pursue two different crimes, one in London, one in the country. Satisfaction for the traditional British mystery enthusiast.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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