Overview
For both the American athlete and the American advertiser, the Super Bowl represents the ultimate challenge and the ultimate reward. Ad exec Marty English has just been handed the dream assignment: create a winning thirty-spot for Isaac Arrow Pharmaceuticals, the drug giant, in the middle of the nation's single greatest game. There's a catch. Marty has only three weeks to do it. Suddenly he will have to be creative in harrowing new ways that have nothing to do with jingles and storyboards. For, unknown to the world he now moves in, Marty English - born Inglesia - is the estranged son of Chicago's mafia godfather. In one night, Marty's father is brutally murdered and a mysterious package arrives at Marty's doorstep. Inside is a computer disk bearing an indecipherable glyph, the only clue to his father's killer. He soon learns that a new tropical drug more powerful than cocaine is about to be unleashed on the public, and that his new star client has become his deadliest nemesis.Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling author of Double Cross returns -- this time aided by wife and fellow advertising professional Bettina Giancana -- with 30 Seconds, a scorching, edge-of-your-seat thriller that pits an ad exec against the mob, the CIA, and a multimillion-dollar corporation.
Publishers Weekly
Madison Avenue meets the mob in the Giancanas' entertaining second novel (after Double Cross). The thrills begin when ad exec Marty English's estranged father, an old-school Chicago don, is poisoned by his right-hand man and Marty inherits a valuable, mysterious computer disk. The disk draws Marty back into his father's world--just as he's about to land a multimillion dollar account with Arrow Pharmaceuticals. The key to acquiring the account is a 30-second Super Bowl spot, scheduled to take place at Arrow's glamorous eco-resort in Belize, where the odd behavior of Arrow executives and a conversation with a Mayan guide who works for the company lead Marty to suspect that the resort may be a CIA front. Suspicion turns to fear when he returns to Chicago and dead bodies start popping up. When a cop joins the victim list, Marty is forced to go underground to protect the disk and solve its secrets. What makes the Giancanas' tale such a wild ride is the clever use of interlocking subplots to build suspense, particularly a Mayan angle that adds both New Age and high-tech elements. The secondary characters tend toward the cardboard, but Marty English is an engaging protagonist who effectively combines slickness, intelligence and fallibility. Author tour. (Sept.)