cover image Running Fix

Running Fix

Tony Gibbs. Random House (NY), $18.95 (371pp) ISBN 978-0-394-57580-3

This compelling thriller, a sequel to Gibbs's Dead Run , percolates with suspense. Gillian Verdean is a young woman of good breeding whose diminished circumstances have obliged her to charter out her family's magnificent yacht, Glory. Her crew includes crusty Jeremy Barr, an old salt whose loss of wife and ship have left him high and dry emotionally, and Patrick O'Mara, a lusty young ex-mercenary whose working-class Catholic background puts him at a disadvantage among the snobbish gentry with whom he sails. While fending off Patrick and angling after Jeremy, Gillian receives a phone call from Sol Farber, father of her former college roommate, Sarah, who has disappeared at sea with her boss, the editor of the leftist journal The New Federalist , Roger Huddleston. her Sarah's ?boss and editor of the leftist journal The New Federalist. Convinced that Sarah is still alive despite the destruction of the boat and the deaths of the crew, Sol sponsors a search led by Gillian and her crew. The plot and love triangle unfold beautifully. Gibbs, a New Yorker contributor, former editor of Yachting , and author of many books on sailing, knows his way around a yacht club. (Apr.)