Jumper
-
-
3.0 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $12.99
-
- $12.99
Publisher Description
Richard Barth departs from his popular series featuring elderly sleuth Margaret Binton to introduce Dr. Samuel Garvey, the best and most daring roller coaster designer in the country, and to take his readers on the ride of their lives.
Garvey is now at work on his masterpiece, the Jumper, for the Angelus Corporation in Texas. The Jumper will do just that-the two cars will jump tracks with each other in the middle of the ride travelling over a 60 foot gap 75 feet in the air. This is the ride that will make or break Garvey as a designer and he is taking every step to insure that it is successful.
While in the middle of designing Jumper, he receives a phone call from Rachael White of the National Transportation Safety Board. She explains to him that there was an accident at the Cyclone in Coney Island and that she would like his help. It soon becomes clear that the accident wasn't an accident, but sabotage. What is even more disturbing is that the assailant left a note tying the crash to other recent "accidents" and threatening to strike again. But where? And why?
As the mystery unfolds and another tragedy is barely averted, the danger is closer to Garvey than he ever could have imagined. Not only is someone after his reputation, but also his life. An exhilarating novel that will leave you as breathless as the passengers on the Jumper.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Angel City, one of the Southwest's largest amusement parks, is planning to open the most advanced roller coaster ever--the Jumper--in which two trains fly off their respective tracks and pass each other in midair before landing back on the rails. Given this exciting premise, it's too bad that the novel's mystery elements turn out to be perfunctory. Dr. Samuel Garvey, the Jumper's designer, agrees to help Rachel White, a National Transportation Safety Board official, investigate a fatal accident at the Coney Island Cyclone. A threatening note found at the scene, plus evidence of equipment tampering, indicates sabotage. The pair can't prevent a second fatal "accident," but Rachel manages to avert a third roller-coaster disaster in a classic cliffhanger. On the personal side, Garvey is still grieving for his late wife, who died of a painkiller overdose, and playing devoted single dad to his young daughter, Sarah. The unattached Rachel soon provides some romantic diversion as well as surrogate mothering. Meanwhile, Garvey realizes that someone is also trying to sabotage the Jumper--someone within Angelus Corporation, the company building the innovative new roller coaster. Undaunted, Garvey gives the go-ahead for the first ride, on which Rachel and Sarah end up as passengers. Barth (Deadly Climate, etc.) offers some appealing characters and interesting background on roller coasters, but his villains and their motivations are only barely plausible.
