cover image Piccolo

Piccolo

James Baddock. Walker & Company, $19.95 (217pp) ISBN 978-0-8027-1201-1

A ``new kind of treason'' is afoot in England, and Baddock ( The Faust Conspiracy ) plays it out with his customary power and tension. The brass at Special Branch ask agent Steven Redmond to determine if any pattern links the recent deaths of computer scientists at the Ministry of Defense, but they also make it clear that they want an indeterminate report. While Redmond finds nothing tangible, his ambitious partner taps into a top-secret database and learns that most of the victims had been involved in a mysterious project known as Piccolo. When other Piccolo scientists end up dead, Redmond dives into the case, only to be ordered off by the head of MI5. Soon Redmond is shunted off to the States, where he gathers more information about Piccolo, this time implicating a multinational corporation and an agent of the Ministry of Defense. The plot twists and turns, leaving in its wake an astonishing trail of death. Vivid characters and excellent pacing intensify the punch in this knockout thriller. (Aug.)