cover image West on 66

West on 66

James H. Cobb, Cobb. Minotaur Books, $23.95 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-312-20621-5

Switching from futuristic techno-thrillers (Choosers of the Slain; Sea Strike) to a mystery set in the past, Cobb gives readers a shameless ode to the joys of the 1950s muscle car--and barely enough plot to fill the back of a postage stamp. Vacationing cop Kevin Pulaski guns his '57 Chevy across country, following the fabled Route 66 from Chicago to California, in the tail end of a hot summer in 1958. Occupying the passenger seat is the sultry Lisette Kingman, daughter of Johnny 32, a murdered mobster who stole and ran from his partners. Now Lisette is on the trail of the missing money, some 200 large. She's being helped by Pulaski and tailed by Mace Spano, one of her father's partners. More a period-piece travelogue than a mystery, this extended car chase doesn't offer enough surprises. The tale is as linear and as lonely as a stretch of rural interstate. Mace and his henchmen, plus two members of the Cluster clan, Ira and Jubal, do provide some psychotic color, showing up threateningly along the way. But it's hard to see how this novel will hold the attention of anyone but vintage car buffs and open road enthusiasts hankering for the wide empty spaces of yesteryear. (Sept.)