Reaper
Mezrich (Threshold, LJ 5/1/96) combines two currently hot topics, the Internet and killer viruses, in his new novel. Telecon Industries is about to revolutionize the information superhighway. Its Set-Top Boxes, provided free of charge to every household in America, will connect each television and personal computer to one all-encompassing network. Television programs on demand, interactive software, network banking, and more will be available in every home?unless, of course, a deadly computer virus that travels through the network's fiber-optic lines kills everyone first. Nick Barnes, a paramedic who was a surgeon before an accident destroyed one of his hands, and Samantha Craig, a supermodel-gorgeous scientist employed by U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, have fewer than three days to determine the origin of the virus before The Big Turn On, the event that will activate Telecon's computer network. Despite its somewhat plausible premise, Reaper never quite rings true because of its unbelievable characters and impossible situations. Not a necessary purchase.-?Melissa Rockicki, NYPLCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.