THE EMPRESS FILE

by John Camp ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 9, 1991

A frazzled sequel to The Fool's Run (1989), Camp's seriocomic caper novel published in between his outstanding pseudonymous (as John Sandford) thrillers, Rules of Prey (1989) and Shadow Prey (1990). This time out, the action's far more serio than comic as computer hacker/painter/Tarot-buff Kidd cleans up a corrupt southern town. Back to help Kidd pull the plug on the ""machine"" that runs Longstreet, Mississippi, is sexy cat-thief LuEllen; the tension between these two free spirits as they resist their growing love for one another gives the novel some emotional sizzle. Less warming, for all its byzantine spirals, is the main plot line, which has Kidd called in by modempal Bobby to avenge the death of one of Bobby's protÉgÉs, a black boy gunned down without cause by two Longstreet cops subsequently protected by the machine. Posing respectively as a rummy painter and a crystal-ball reader, Kidd and LuEllen motor down the Mississippi in a rented houseboat to Longstreet, where they link up with a trio of radical reformers. Together, with modem-input from Bobby, the group hatches an intricate plan to discredit the machine's big wheels--including the town's superstitious mayor and sadistic dogcatcher--through complex blackmail and financial mayhem; separately, Kidd and LuEllen, after monetary as well as moral rewards, pursue their own agenda by robbing the homes of the town leaders to steal their illicit fortunes (some nifty home-intrusion lore here) and by driving the mayor crazy through rigged fortunetellings. All goes well until Kidd & Co. underestimate the machine's ruthlessness, leading to two brutal murders and a jarring, violent climax. Kidd and LuEllen remain compelling characters, but here they've tumbled into an overplotted, herky-jerky-paced tale that boasts neither the charm of the prequel nor the riveting suspense of Camp's other books.

Pub Date: April 9, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1991

Categories: FICTION