BKKLRWHL.RVW   980519

"Killer Whale", Elizabeth Quinn, 1997, 0-671-52770-3, U$5.99/C$7.99
%A   Elizabeth Quinn ebarnard@magick.net www.magick.net/~ebarnard
%C   1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY   10020
%D   1997
%G   0-671-52770-3
%I   Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books
%O   U$5.99/C$7.99 +1-212-698-7541
%P   241 p.
%T   "Killer Whale"

This book was *not* supposed to make it into the series.  After all,
how many mysteries set in America's last frontier and with a strong
environmental emphasis do you expect to have some technical content?

But it does, and the content is very good, at that.  Email is used
effectively and realistically, even to the point of being able to
retrieve your email from a variety of computers.  Some of the plot
turns on the recovery of files that have been deleted.  The one
instance of data corruption is just a *tad* too convenient, and
UNDELETE is not the only means of recovering data, but in comparison
to most other mysteries and thrillers that have touched on computers
this gets a very strong nine out of ten.  The fact that the author has
both an email address *and* a Web site comes as no surprise.

Looking at other aspects of the work, the characters are very
sympathetic and attractive.  Background is solid, and backed up with a
bibliography at the end of the text.  (I was just a bit surprised that
net references were not present.)  The plotting is interesting and
well paced.  (I did figure out whodunnit about two thirds of the way
through, but what do you expect from a professional paranoid?)

I very much enjoyed it, I liked the fact that the computer content
didn't make serious errors, and being able to put it into the series
is a bonus.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 1998   BKKLRWHL.RVW   980519