Geri (geejay) - reviewed on 8/26/2009 + 85 more book reviews

This is a thankfully fast reading but mediocre murder mystery.

Dr. John Snow, a brilliant aerospace engineer and inventor on the verge of undergoing radical neurosurgery to correct debilitating lifelong seizures, is found shot outside the hospital an hour before the procedure. Boston detective Mike Coady calls in Clevenger when it is indeterminate as to whether this was a case of suicide or murder.

Snow was on the verge of a breakthrough in stealth missile technology which would have provided a huge financial windfall for his company. The unhappily married Snow was being inspired in his thought processes by his mistress who is also married, Grace Baxter. Apparently Snow's surgery to be performed by accomplished neurosurgeon Dr. Jet Heller, had the potential to cause selective amnesia as a byproduct. Snow would lose the memories of all those that had a part in his life, family and lover included.

Fantastically Baxter herself was found days after Snow's demise, apparently having taken her own life by slashing her wrists and neck. Questions arose as to whether she also might have been murdered.

Ablow conveniently bestowed upon all the peripheral characters in this book including Snow's wife, son and daughter, business partner, Baxter's husband George Reese and even Dr. Heller enough financial and emotional baggage to make them strong suspects in Snow's murder. Clevenger must wade through all the rhetoric to solve this improbable case. Ablow's conclusion is melodramatic and ridiculously farfetched.

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