Lethal Velocity

November 11, 2002
A fantastic near-future amusement park is the setting for this techno-thriller by Child (coauthor with Douglas Preston of the Preston/Child bestsellers) in his first solo outing. Utopia, a Nevada amusement park extraordinaire, features several elaborate holographic theme worlds (like Camelot and Gaslight, which meticulously recreates Victorian England), all run by an ultrasophisticated computer system and serviced by robots. When a series of fluke accidents culminates in the near death of a boy on a Gaslight roller coaster, the Utopia brain trust calls in the original computer engineer, Dr. Andrew Warne. Warne arrives with his bristly 14-year-old daughter, Georgia, and sets to work solving the Gaslight problem, though he can't believe that the system is willfully malfunctioning, as the evidence seems to indicate. To complicate matters, Utopia's manager, Sarah Boatwright, is Warne's ex-girlfriend, and an obvious mutual attraction exists between Warne and Utopia systems controller Teresa Bonifacio. Just as Warne gets to work, violent attacks erupt all over the park, masterminded by an impassive psychopath known as John Doe and carried out by his cadre of henchmen, including a computer genius and a crack marksman. For three hours, Doe holds the park hostage, and Warne, Boatwright and Bonifacio race against the clock to foil his plans. Child creates a convincingly self-contained world, populated by amusing creations like a cyber-dog called Wingnut and clever descriptions of futuristic amusement park rides. Sluggish prose and an overload of technical detail slow the pace, but Child proves he is capable of fireworks (literally) at the rousing conclusion.

May 1, 2003
Adult/High School-Utopia, the largest, most technologically advanced theme park in the world, draws in revenue to match its size. When problems begin to show up with the Metanet, the system controlling the robotics in the park, no one suspects anything but a computing error. When Dr. Andrew Warne, designer of the Metanet and the robotics, comes to fix the trouble, bringing his teenage daughter with him, the two are immediately caught up in terrorist plots to frighten both staff and visitors. Child takes the story chronologically through one day's events, increasing the tension as time ticks by. Minutes are noted, emphasizing the amount of action occurring in a small segment of time, and events that may be happening simultaneously in another part of the park are also pointed out. In this not-too-remote future, the technology ranges from realistic, full-sized holograms to advanced communications systems. Dr. Warne carries most of the character development, but Angus Poole almost steals the lead. He is visiting the park when he becomes involved in rescuing others after a terrorist event. His background in both military and security training provides him with the ability to perform the physical action required. Together, Warne and Poole make an unbeatable team, but admirable secondary characters, including a robot, add to this fast-paced adventure.-Pam Johnson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA

Copyright 2003 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 12, 2002
Child departs from Douglas Preston, his coconspirator on books like Relic, to craft this creepy tale of trouble at a techno theme park. Criminals take over the computer system and threaten bloody havoc if their demands aren't met. Can computer genius Dr. Andrew Warne save the day?

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2002
Utopia, a futuristic theme park of immense proportions, is every kid's dream. With its location off the Vegas Strip, Utopia has become " the" tourist destination for families. In fact, about 65,000 people visit the park each day, and much of the credit for its technological marvels goes to Dr. Andrew Warne, a computer engineer who designed the highly secretive and enormously ingenious robotics system, the Metanet, which basically runs the park. When Andrew is called in under the pretense of exploring expansion of the current system, he soon learns the real reason behind his presence: to discover what could be behind the apparent breakdown of the Metanet. Eventually, he uncovers evidence of tampering with the system--from the inside. Even the confident head of the park, Sarah (Andrew's former colleague and lover), typically impervious to adversity, begins to worry when an interloper carries out a threat by sabotaging one of the attractions. Unable to shut the park down because of further threats of violence, Sarah leaves the safety of the thousands of patrons in Andrew's hands. Who could be behind such atrocities, and what is it they are after? It is up to Andrew and the engineering crew of Utopia to find that out. The blend of technological jargon and suspense results in a real thrill-a-minuteread.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)