Mind-Set

Murderous extortionists meet their match in the supposedly mild-mannered dentist Dr. Simon Braddock. When Obie Prather stops by to pick up the money, Braddock turns vigilante, decapitating Obie and sending a pointed note to the police along with Obie's severed penis. But the police don't have enough evidence to arrest Obie's brother Willard or his uncle, Henrich Wexler, a local politician, which leaves Braddock to take the offensive against the vindictive thugs. The plot is absurd, and readers will be disinclined to suspend disbeliefDin part because it's hard to imagine that crooks this stupid could have murdered so many people. Also, Doster pads his account with extensive details about every character, which, rather than creating a fully dimensional cast, flattens everyone out and makes for tedious reading to boot. (Feb.)