30 Seconds by Sam & Bettina Giancana - 1999

New York U. S. A.: Warner Books. As New 1999. Paperback. Marfree, Fine 1st paperbk Ed as shown; no names, not marked-in, underscored, clearance or discard. Mails from NYC usually within 12 hours. ; 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches; 462 pages; \nOnline Rev: John Grisham meets Mario Puzo in this entertaining thriller by the godson of a real-life Mob boss. Marty English (born Iglesia) is an ad whiz and son of a Chicago gangster who finds himself entangled with the Mafia after his father, Tony Iglesia, is poisoned with a potent new drug that's cheaper, stronger, and easier to produce than cocaine. Was Tony killed because he wouldn't risk the wrath of his partners in the Colombian cartel by flooding the market with the drug? The secret may lie in the computer disk that arrives in the mail a few days after Tony dies, but Marty is too busy to decipher the mysterious glyph on the disk or track down his father's killers. First he has to produce a 30-second commercial for a new client--Arrow Pharmaceutical Company--in time for the Super Bowl, which is less than three weeks away. If he can pull it off, Arrow's multimillion-dollar account will save his foundering ad agency and incidentally put him in line for the CEO's job. Nothing is more important--not the threats on Marty's life by men who've already killed once for the disk's secrets, not the ultimatum issued by his girlfriend, a beautiful photojournalist who's been pushing Marty for a commitment. The action builds to a breathtaking conclusion in the Belizean rainforest, where he's warned off by a Mayan shaman, pursued by the Mob, ensnared by a renegade CIA team, and seduced by Arrow's beautiful marketing director. Lively and fast-paced, with enough high-tech drama to enthrall fans of Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, 30 Seconds delivers suspense and thrills enough for big-screen treatment. --Jane Adams From 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. Copyright 1998 Reed. .