THE ARM OF THE STARFISH

Taking sides (right vs. wrong) and teaming up provides both the suspense and the philosophical tug-of-war in this imaginative story of a 16 year old high school graduate who unwittingly becomes involved in international intrigue. Adam Eddington, a promising zoologist, spends a summer assisting the research of a Dr. O'Keefe on a Portuguese island. The project involves the ability of the starfish to regenerate missing limbs, which Dr. O'Keefe hopes to apply to human beings. On the way to the island Adam is warned against O'Keefe by a glamorous girl and temporarily persuaded to assist her flag-waving father. Adam is a dashing, sophisticated sort, but not without his human qualities. The situation has been foisted upon him but it is one which demands that he commit himself. As the conflict becomes more pronounced, the story gets weaker. The personal probe is valid although many may disagree with the answers, and it accompanies some solidly detailed, excitingly sustained adventure. The author wrote the prizewinning A Wrinkle in Time.