THE 65TH TAPE

by Frank Ross ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1979

After a solid splash (Dead Run, 1977) and a superior swandive (Sleeping Dogs, 1978), Ross has somehow spun into a belly-flop: a sluggish Washington paranoia-thriller that reads like a weak imitation of the worst of Robert Ludlum, complete with secret societies, assassination conspiracies, a persecuted innocent bystander, and an important role for. . . ex-President Richard M. Nixon. The blather begins when Lucas Garfield, aging White House troubleshooter, receives a posthumous letter from his late chum John Anson-a letter that reveals the existence of a secret coalition of D.C. biggies called the Matrix; this clique engineered the Kennedy and King assassinations and is about to put a president into office--popular candidate Ambrose Bradley is one of them! What can Lucas do about this? Well, he can try to get his hands on the ""65th tape""--recorded evidence (at one time mixed in with the Watergate tapes) of the Matrix's evil; and he can try to force Bradley to quit the race--by sharing the secret of the Matrix with Nixon (!), who will threaten to come out of retirement and run against Bradley on an anti-Matrix platform unless Bradley quits. Huh? Huh indeed, and the other major half of the plot is no more convincing: the persecution of Anson's inquisitive son, who's being used as bait by Lucas and being terrorized by Matrix thugs. A few taut scenes and some appealing supporting characters remind one that Ross can be a real writer, but mostly it's a miniscule, silly notion stretched and twisted to fill 300+ pages. Perhaps Ludlum's vast sales encouraged Ross to forsake his nifty thrillers for this unseemly concoction; in any case, it's a mistake that Ross' fans will surely forgive--as long as he goes back pronto to his own distinctive, tightly focused approach to suspense.

Pub Date: July 1, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1979

Categories: FICTION