SERVER DOWN

A tri-state, cyber-powered chase for an assassin.

A self-anointed Cheyenne shaman nicknamed Mad Dog (Broken Heartland, 2007, etc.) who roams central Kansas emanating peace and good will zips a thousand miles to Tucson to attend a Yaquis Festival with his companion Hailey, a wolf. He’s welcomed by a killer who sticks his knife into a Sewa Tribal policeman and frames Mad Dog for the murder. When the fugitive Mad Dog calls his half brother Sheriff English back in Kansas for help, the sheriff has more bad news for him: A grenade launcher has just leveled his house. Mad Dog’s niece Heather, in Tucson for a legal conference, goes looking for him, but she’s in trouble too. An avatar on a computer game that Mad Dog and Mrs. Kraus, the sheriff’s helper, have been playing seems to know every move they make and awaits them with lethal accoutrements. Worse, the assassin has been offered an even bigger payday if he’ll take care of Mad Dog’s gal pal Pam, a Las Vegas entertainer. Though Mad Dog is outplayed at every turn, Hailey still keeps the good guys intact, but not before the sheriff’s office explodes; the assassin is double-crossed and does a turnabout himself; and the game that isn’t just a game lands a bunch of teenagers in trouble, costs some politicians big time and even makes a Tucson cop get down and dirty.

Best enjoyed by those addicted to cyberspace gaming and the uncanny intervention of wolves.