GTO: Race to Oblivion

Corea’s second novel centered on a classic automobile (after 2015’s The Duesenberg Caper) will please car enthusiasts but disappoint those who expect suspense and action in their thrillers. In 1956, Antonio Grimaldi, a technician for Enzo Ferrari, drives the prototype of what will become the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Berlinetta to Genoa, Italy. It’s loaded onto the ill-fated SS Andrea Doria, which will sink off Nantucket en route to New York. In 2008, financial planner Tommy Grimaldi, who has never heard of Antonio, agrees to accompany his newly wealthy friend and car buff, Mike Bender, a fellow resident of Fairchester, N.Y., to Toronto, where they visit Ferrari Maranello of Ontario. The attractive saleswoman they meet in the showroom, Jaclyn Le Harve, learns Tommy’s last name and tells him about Antonio and the lost GTO. It isn’t long before Bender and Le Harve join forces in a daring attempt to retrieve the car from the wreck of the Andrea Doria. Corea’s at his best when describing car prices and values, and their capabilities and foibles, in this otherwise lackluster effort. (Mar.)