Death Underground

Kirkus Reviews

Not just underground but aboveground, and everywhere else that's likely to be served by L.A.'s new subway system. Trans-LA, the company handling the behemoth contract, has assured everybody from the mayor on down that the system will be safe, but an earthquake rattles its tunnels, scattering some very convenient debris over the body of Vincent Strong, a project engineer whom News-Telegram reporter Rogers Kennison had seen vigorously arguing with a co-worker during Kennison's visit to the construction site just the day before the quake. Could it be that Strong knew something about safety issues that Trans-LA couldn't afford to let out, and that anybody trying to make a case against the giant company will face a giant's wrath? It's not giving too much away to say that when Kennison goes hunting for evidence together with Trans-LA temp Denise Burton (who had anti-corporate troubles of her own in Deadly Dreams, 1996) and her boomerang ex-husband Donald Burton, the three of them are stepping into a minefield that will soon have them taking turns acting out such TV-movie perils as getting kidnaped, worked over, threatened with death, and picked up by the police as Trans-LA pulls every string in its considerable arsenal to keep the story quiet. Bet you can't tell who'll come out on top. Alfred Hitchcock used to say that suspense was more effective than surprise. But in relying on suspense without even a hint of surprise, Schiller may be making things too easy for all but the most benighted readers.