by Philip Kerr
Beach Book of the Week
THANK YOUR LUCKY MICROCHIPS THAT you're at the shore instead of in the office. In this tale of ego and electronics run riot, an oddly shaped office tower in L.A. leaves its inhabitants fuming—at least those who are still alive. The creation of megalomaniac architect Ray Richardson for a Chinese high-tech firm, the building—shaped like a football goalpost attached to a tent (Grid is for gridiron)—is monitored by a very pushy computer named Abraham that controls everything from corporate data to emergency services.
Abraham has another nasty habit: It seeks to dominate its world. So it begins to get rid of what it refers to as human players by freezing them in elevators, drowning them in washroom cleaning cycles and gassing them in boardrooms. It's left to architect's aide Mitch Bryan and detective Frank Curtis to outwit Abraham before he completes his deadly takeover. And you think your workstation is a hotbed of intrigue. (Warner, $21.95)
Your Reaction
