STORM FRONT

by Phillip Finch ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 30, 1977

The Homer of the white line and trucking lore, whose Haulin' (1975) seems singlehandedly to have given rebirth to the They-Drive-By-Night diesel epic, moves on to the CB Good-Buddy scene and throws in a threatened botulism epidemic for good measure. This time the big trucks are as much the subject as are the people, and it's a world of sealed-in pleasure nine feet above the highway, riding on an air-cushion seat, head spaced with earphones and a Waylon Jennings tape-deck, and maybe some reds or greenies sprucing up your nervous system as the miles pile up between the ""76"" truck stops. Vivid ambience, but the plot is fairly thin. A biological warfare scientist dies. In his cellar is a Mickey Mouse thermos of the deadliest botulism culture ever. His will orders his widow to ship this innocuous thermos west to a scientist friend who will render the germs harmless. But when the truck unknowingly carrying this bottle of plague is forced off the road into a canyon, the thermos is opened (dying, thirsty truckers) as a storm front builds, ready to carry the incredibly potent killer throughout the Midwest--while truckers guided by CB make an intensive search for the lost vehicle. Add the built-in word-of-mouth audience (on the citizen's band) to the epidemically spookable, and that's a fair-sized contingent likely to hitch a ride with good buddy Phillip Finch.

Pub Date: Nov. 30, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1977

Categories: FICTION