SIGNS AND OMENS

Dr. Michael Anderson, a moody type on the verge of suicide, is summoned to the White House by his old chum John Russell--now the President. The crisis? Russell has been suffering strange neurological symptoms lately: memory lapses, confused thoughts, etc. Is it Alzheimer's disease, as the Prez fears? So it seems. But why is ""one of the country's most notorious hit men"" stalking hero Anderson? Why is the president's press secretary (who was suspicious of Presidential physician Art McCormick) murdered? Could it all have to do with a top-secret, upcoming summit conference between Pres. Russell and the USSR Premier? Of course it could. So, surviving a near-fatal attack by that hit-man, Anderson goes into heavy sleuthing action; through a gross coincidence, he finds evidence that the President's medical tests have been faked; he ever-so-conveniently finds evil Dr. McCormick's step-by-step agenda for this ongoing scheme to neglect the President's real medical problem, thus making sure that he's weak and malleable when it comes to US/USSR negotiations. And finally, after tracking the Pres to the secret summit spot and exposing the machinations of vile (Russian-born!) Dr. McCormick, Anderson must arrange for impromptu neurosurgery--since Pres. Russell is actually suffering from an aneurysm. (""You got him here just in time. Looks like she was about to blow. Another fifteen minutes, and your friend wouldn't have made it."") With cartoon-balloon dialogue and implausibilities upon implausibilities: amateurish treatment of a few faintly promising conspiracy-thriller notions.