ELECTRIC COUNTRY ROULETTE

There isn't much that can lure enigmatic NFL star Wyatt Storme away from his life of splendid isolation in the mountains near Denver. One thing that can is his friendship with Chick Easton - a hard-drinking, wisecracking, much-decorated fellow Vietnam vet, who is all too willing to coax Storme into trouble. Another is a plea for help from Sandra Collingsworth, a beautiful television journalist, whose energy intoxicates Storme and whose love undermines his stoicism and disenchantment with modern society.
Electric Country Roulette is set in the Branson, Missouri, resort area - "The New Nashville" - one of the fastest-growing areas in the United States. Once an obscure fisherman's paradise, North Branson (a boomtown outpacing its namesake, Branson), has exploded into a fireball of electric marquee lights, country music stars, and greed - the quick march of progress spawning an underbelly of corruption and crime. Aided by Sandy and Chick, Wyatt investigates the death of a young college woman who had accused celebrity country singer Travis Conrad of date rape. The local police are apathetic, even hostile, to questions about the murder, which they call an "accident."
Entangled beyond their expectations, the trio eventually uncover a conspiracy, hatched by a nest of unscrupulous land speculators, to exploit a lucrative deal bringing Disney World to the Ozarks. Along the way the three encounter bodyguards, mob leg-breakers, seamy hucksters, and corrupt public officials who have incentive to silence Storme and, even more, his girlfriend. When Storme's investigation puts Sandy at grave risk, Storme and Easton set a deadly trap for the perpetrators. But vengeance exacts an onerous and unintended toll as the escapade rips open a wound in Storme's tortured soul - a soul already scarred by the postwar trauma of Vietnam - a wound that provides a clue as to why the iconoclastic hero has chosen his reclusive lifestyle.

Rustic settings don't keep Ripley's maverick hero Wyatt Storme from tackling the big criminal game in a novel marred by excesses. In his debut, Dreamsicle, it was crack dealers; then gun-runners in Storme Front. In his third adventure, the Vietnam vet and ex-NFL star is drawn into a stew of corruption and greed that includes a country-music star, police, politicians and Mafia muscle trying to make the little Ozark town of North Branson, Mo., more famous than neighboring country-music mecca Branson. Storme, girlfriend Sandy Collingsworth and sidekick Chick Easton, a freelance bounty hunter, form a trio highly reminiscent of Robert B. Parker's Spenser, Susan and Hawk. Storme plays the familiar refrain of sensitive tough guy; Sandy is a 3B (bright, beautiful and brave) news anchor for a Denver TV station; and the heavy-drinking Easton is Storme's ace in the hole. When Sandy's attempt to cover an alleged date-rape in North Branson involving country star Travis Conrad draws threats, she calls in Storme and Easton. Her investigation threatens more than Conrad's reputation, and the brutal attempts to stop it include intimidation, rapes, beatings and murders. The action, which includes a fine mano-a-mano finale, is well done, and Ripley's trio is not without charm. But the constant camaraderie and repartee, too often forced and heavy-handed, ultimately trips up the action.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Former country-music legend Travis Conrad is back on top in Branson, Missouri, when a young coed accuses him of date rape. Ignored by the local cops, she finds an advocate in Sandra Collingsworth, a correspondent for a network television newsmagazine. For help, Sandra turns to her lover, Wyatt Storme, Vietnam vet and former pro-football star with money in the bank and a soft spot for little folks in big trouble. For backup, Storme brings Chick Easton, a part-time thug with a shadowy past and a severe attitude. Storme and Easton are the literary descendants of Spenser and Hawk, but they are no more imitations than Lew Archer is an imitation of Philip Marlowe. This is a fine series that has improved dramatically with each installment. Superior entertainment. Wes Lukowsky