Double Vision
*Starred Review* For the inventive Ingermanson, whose previous novels have dealt with time travel (Transgression, 2000) and spaceflight (Oxygen, 2001),Double Visionis rather short on plot. A start-up software company is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, and treachery is afoot from a rival firm. In a last-minute maneuver, the CEO hires researcher Rachel Meyers to employ a Manhattan Project approach to the development of a radical new encryption system using nanotechnology. Naturally, physicist Ingermanson is superb at describing Rachel's research, not to mention making her a believable young woman. But her coworker, Dillon Richard, runs off with the novel. Dillon is a high-functioning autistic who can write code with such speed that Rachel's research actually becomes practicable. More than that (or less), he is completely literal-minded, so that he doesn't understand metaphors or how two women, Rachel and the company's bean counter, Keryn Wills, can vie for him. His unintentional humor adds just the ingredient to makeDouble Visionirresistible.John MortCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved