Pattern for Terror

Former county prosecutor and town sage Uncle George Crowder finds himself on the crime trail again when his nephew discovers a schoolteacher, who has died of an apparent accident while smuggling drugs, and is kidnapped

MWA Grand Master Pentecost offers fans an overblown but suspenseful story in this addition to the Uncle George series ( Death by Fire ). An expert detective, George follows clues in the New England town of Lakeview to the hideaway where drug dealers are holding his 10-year-old nephew, Joey, whom they have seriously beaten. While doctors fight to save Joey's life, George trails the escaped hoods, partners of a teacher at the exclusive Lakeview Academy who died recently, when a bag of heroin he had swallowed broke in his stomach. George reconstructs the teacher's last day, discovering that he was moonlighting at Columbia University in Manhattan. Asking questions there, George gets so close to the dead courier's sources that they plant a bomb in his car which explodes--luckily, when he's across the street. Both Uncle George and Joey survive incessant blows before a somewhat mechanical, happy ending.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Pentecost's knack for successfully rejecting unessential prose and plot elements seems to have deserted him. Here he omits credible dialog, most transitions, absolutely all finesse, and practically the whole plot. The day Uncle George's ten-year-old nephew witnesses new English teacher Alexander's "heart attack" death, someone kidnaps the boy. As it turns out, Alexander died because a plastic container of drugs he swallowed ruptured in his stomach. Despite numerous impediments (bombs, etc.), George roots out the nasty villains. Dire disappointment from beginning to end. Previewed in Prepub Alert,
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.