RED LIGHTNING

by Hugh Holton ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 10, 1998

The forces of evil are loose in Chicago again, and once more Chief of Detectives Larry Cole stands between them and the city's total destruction. This time the heavies are Cherokee-born rogue scientist Dr. Jonathan Gault and his legless sidekick Christian Dodd. Thrown out of work when the army closed down his beloved Astrolab project, Gault, this reverse Batman, has taken his evil eye, high explosives, poisonous snakes, and maniacal Robin to the Windy City, where he teams up with a pair of biddable public servants to supply the city's wealthy with lethal booby traps that will decimate the local population of burglars and car thieves. When snoopy freelance reporter Kate Ford gets evidence that some of Cole's colleagues are covering up the manner of the small-time felons' deaths, the race is on. Gault and Dodd, armed with the choicest arsenal of death-dealing weapons since the glory days of Fu Manchu--poisoned darts, death rays, mechanically revivified museum fossils, a flame-throwing wheelchair--have at Cole and Ford and their stalwart allies, who interrupt their ongoing soap opera of romances, disguises, and shifting allegiances (Violent Crimes, 1997, etc.) long enough to freeze in terror before the messengers of slithering death . . . until fighting back in a final demented tableau. Holton's fifth and most satisfyingly unnuanced wallow in mayhem seems destined not so much for the movies as for a Saturday morning cartoon.

Pub Date: July 10, 1998

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Forge/Tor

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1998

Categories: FICTION