THE SOLOMON ORGANIZATION

Paperback veteran Neiderman turns from horror (The Need, 1991), which he does poorly, to a routine suspense thriller, which he does only slightly better. Scott Lester, a Mercedes salesman and a hero no one could love, is discovered one afternoon by his working wife Meg high on cocaine and in the marital bed with an unknown woman while their five-year-old daughter, Justine, plays in her nearby bedroom. Furious, Meg flees with Justine. Outta luck Scott soon is in divorce court. For some reason, Scott's attorney, Michael Fein, gives off cold waves—perhaps because of Scott's whining, excuses, and laying of blame for his sins at his wife's change of character from small-town charmer to big-city fem libber. Leaving court, Scott is befriended by Philip Dante, who takes him out for drinks and explains that he's been through the same divorce mill as Scott. But, Dante says, he saved his custody battle by applying to the Solomon Organization for help, which rescued him from a hopeless position. What is the Solomon Organization? It's never quite clear to Scott. But what happens is that Dante gets Scott drunk and drugged and Scott wakes up in his old house with Meg near death from a head wound and Justine gone. His fingerprints are on the blunt-edged attempted-murder weapon. Scott enlists the help of a seedy detective and begins tracking down the vanished Solomon Organization.... Though it's revealed to be a bunch of reparenting childnappers and Scott saves Justine, he undergoes no visible change of character. But Neiderman states that he's been reborn—by fiat? Near but witless.