Find Virgil

First published as Gasp in 1996, Freudberg’s predictable debut still fails to thrill, despite a rewrite. In 1995, journalist Martin Muntor is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in Philadelphia. Martin, who has never smoked, sees himself as a victim (“like an unwilling Christ, made to pay for the sins of the world, as if all the damage they had done to themselves had been visited on him”). He dons the persona of Virgil, a serial killer who targets leaders in the tobacco industry as well as smokers by poisoning random cigarette packages. Meanwhile, W. Nicholas Pratt, the head of a tobacco company, offers PI Tommy Rhoads much-needed money if Tommy will spy on the FBI for him, as Pratt has secrets he can’t have surfacing. An ex-cop with a drinking problem, Tommy believes the only way he can save himself from alcoholism is to buy a boat so he can make a living on the water. Too much backstory for each character and a sluggish pace doom this reboot. (BookLife)