THE JUDAS SQUAD

by James N. Rowe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 1977

How dull can a plutonium heist be? Mighty dull, when the masterminds talk about it and then tell the whole thing over again to the hired perpetrators Call in bureaucratese)--and when the press and the President's staff comment on the action in a running stream of technologese: ""We're running SAS, VENUS II, PAD, REXCO, SOFIRE, and HAA computer codes to the limit that they're able to predict the dynamics of such a core disruptive incident."" The masterminds are amoral weapons merchants who must supply their international clients with nuclear zap, the perpetrators are semi-disenchanted ex-GI's (We're ""taking a hell of a shot at my country""), and the plan involves pretending to be ransom-minded terrorists who threaten to explode an atomic power plant outside of Pittsburgh. From siege to Ohio-Pennsy hysteria to getaway (the final twist was used better in Ross's Dead Runner), it's left-fight, left-right all the way, a stolid march through familiar territory that's less suspenseful and fraught with danger than a shoplift at Woolworth's.

Pub Date: Sept. 8, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION