Synopsis
Investigating the murder of NASA computer wizard James Woods, Nick Foster meets Woods' fiancee, Katie, who is certain that Woods' murder had something to do with a software program he had been designing for the space shuttle
Reviews
A paraplegic reporter is the intrepid and engaging detective in this highly promising mystery debut. Nick (Stick) Foster, a wheelchair-bound columnist for a small Florida newspaper, is crabbing in the Intercoastal Waterway with his friend Phil Stilles when they discover the body of Jim Woods, a computer genius attached to a NASA affiliate at the Kennedy Space Center. Although the death is officially dubbed accidental, Stick and the dead man's fiancee, Katie Newman, have their doubts, especially when they find themselves pursued by two different sets of hunters seeking a laser storage disk that Woods had been carrying. The FBI also actively intervenes, and Stick reluctantly joins forces with the G-men after the thugs kidnap Katie and kill Phil. While various hackers try to decipher what's on the disk, a hunch leads Stick to the motive--a serious threat to Florida and the space program--and to a wild race against time. Robinson, himself paralyzed as the result of an accident, creates an upbeat, confident and very likable amateur sleuth who becomes a hero while realistically working around his disabilities.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Wheelchair-bound since he fell off a roof in 1986, Nick Foster writes a column for the Melbourne Sun Coaster, a Florida newspaper- -and when NASA staffer James Woods is found enmeshed in a crab-line and Propjob the porpoise salvages a computer disk from the site, he's sure he's onto a big story. What's on the disk? No one seems to know, but assorted Mafia types are lurking; Woods's beautiful, somewhat mysterious fianc‚e (none of her background stories checks out) is edgily distraught; and Nick ``Stick'' Foster gets close enough to the answer to be shot at and wind up in Titusville General Hospital. Appealing to friendly computer whizzes for help, Stick pieces together what Woods learned: someone has locked a virus into a NASA system, guaranteeing an unpreventable disaster. The Least Likely Suspect and the Most Implausible Motive are the culprits here, and diminish an otherwise satisfactory first effort. Nicely handled asides about life in a chair and a low-key narration are plusses. If Robinson can work harder on plotting, the outlook for book two will be brighter. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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