THE NINETY-MILLION DOLLAR MOUSE

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 1987

Another scam for chameleon-like con artist Milo Turner (The 120 Hour Clock)--but this one, about halfway through, turns into a far-fetched, cartoonish conspiracy-thriller that's neither genuinely suspenseful nor amusingly parodic. Charles B. Kilby, boy-wonder founder of the Omnitron computer company, has died of a heart attack--moments after supposedly writing a new will that leaves his entire estate (and control of Omnitron) to the Drakean Union, a Mormon-like religion. Is the will genuine? The only witness to its deathbed signing has disappeared. The only samples of Kirby's handwriting are old love-letters in the possession of a reclusive midwestern widow. So the Omnitron execs hire Milo to grab those letters and somehow prove Kilby's holographic will to be a fake. And the letter-grabbing mission (involving clever roses, costumes, etc.) provides some low-key fun. Thereafter, however, fueled by unpleasant, graphic tales of the Drakean Union's evil, Milo sets out to destroy the corrupt cult--battling hit men, invading the Union's midwestern headquarters, and unmasking the villains and psychos (including one ludicrously elaborate schemer) in the Drakean leadership. Slight and disappointingly overwrought--with Milo losing all his distinctive charm as a promsing plot-idea (the Ellery Queen-ish question of wills and handwriting) slides into humdrum action and anti-cult hysteria.

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION