TWICE SHY

As hinted in the title, Francis has altered his formula a bit this time. Instead of one decent, reluctant hero, here there are two: the Derry brothers, who fight the same monster-villain. . .but 14 years apart. First we meet 30-ish narrator Jonathan Derry, a physics teacher who is given some computer-tapes (for safe-keeping) by a pal. And when the pal promptly dies in a boat explosion, a couple of thugs pay Jonathan a visit—who, since he happens to be an Olympic marksman, fends them off with a gun. What's on these precious tapes, then? Well, as Jonathan sleuthfully discovers, the tapes contain a fool-proof horserace-betting system—stolen from an ancient widow (her gambler-husband created the system). So Jonathan tries to keep the tapes from the thugs—but thug Angelo, who has already killed at least once in his tape-pursuit, now takes Jonathan's wife hostage; and our ingenious hero must use both physics and marksmanship to rescue wife Sarah (along with their rocky relationship) and get Angelo sent to prison. The end? Hardly. Suddenly it's 14 years later, Jonathan is teaching in California, but his kid brother William (now 29) is in England, managing the many racehorses of an American tycoon. And when raging bull Angelo is released from prison, monstrously vengeful, he goes after nartutor #2 William—who decides to try to make permanent peace: he bashes Angelo, locks him in a cellar, gets hold of those notorious tapes (which Jonathan long ago gave to a schoolteacher chum), and gives them to the now-subdued Angelo. The end? Not quite. Because, unbeknownst to William, those tapes are fatally flawed, and Angelo soon believes that William has tricked him—which means that there's more mayhem ahead before the Derrys can rest easy. True, as you may have gathered, the horses are pretty much in the background this time (though nicely so). And there's a thinness of emotional texture in the blow-by-blow second half. (One can't help wondering how much more powerful the book would have been if Jonathan were killed by Angelo.) But, if not as informative or affecting as prime Francis, this is topnotch, nonstop entertainment: ironic, clever, exciting, and—even when rip-roaringly violent—thoroughly warmhearted.