From the creator of Jurassic Park and ER A pulp-fiction thrill ride through a deadly case of mistaken identity Playboy Roger Carr is handsome, wealthy, and connected. As an occasional lawyer, he's the right man to send to the French Riviera to secure a villa for an important client. It's the perfect assignment, complete with fast cars and fast women, until strange things begin to happen and Roger realizes that someone is trying to kill him. A ruthless terrorist organization called the Associates is carrying out assassinations from Egypt to Denmark. To stop them, the CIA orders their own super assassin--a man who bears a striking resemblance to Roger Carr--to intercept the Associates in France. The CIA assassin never shows up, but the clueless counselor does, and now he finds himself on the run from some of the world's deadliest terrorists. With a new introduction by Sherri Crichton

南仏を舞台に、優雅なプレイボーイが暗殺者と間違われる本作は、若きクライトンが別名義で放った極上のサスペンスです。後の大作にも通じる緻密な構成と疾走感が圧巻で、華やかな虚飾が暴力という過酷な現実によって剥ぎ取られていく過程は、類まれな知的な興奮を禁じ得ません。 特筆すべきは、個人のアイデンティティが周囲の誤認によって容易に解体されるというアイロニカルな深みです。幸運を謳歌していた男が死の淵で己の生を再定義せざるを得なくなるスリルは、読者の胸を熱く焦がします。純粋な娯楽を追求しつつ、人間の脆さと機転を鋭く抉り出した、まさにページを捲る手が止まらなくなる一冊です。