Simon Leonidovich is an average looking guy, a few pounds overweight with a disarming smile and more frequent flyer miles than your average rock star. And he's no glorified UPS delivery man, either. His "packages" range in importance and value from priceless works of art, to live human organs, to nuclear materials. On the return flight from Madrid to New York, after having delivered a Gutenberg Bible to the Prado museum, Simon gets an urgent e-mail about a pickup at a pharmaceutical company in Sweden. Deciding, despite his exhaustion and the additional long hours of fllight to take the order, he finds himself protecting information that, if revealed, could save the lives of millions of people and ensure the demise of a very powerful drug manufacturer. In hot pursuit of the courier are a fearsome, psychotic hired killer and the European police community who have flagged Simon as the prime suspect in the murder of a beautiful stewardess. Add to the mix the fact that Simon's sister and office manager, Lara, is kidnaped by the killer in order to be used as ransom in return for the "hot" diskettes containing the scientific research in question and you've got a great international thriller.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
This edgy debut from restaurateur-turned-author MacLarty opens with a premise worthy of a first-rate medical thriller: P„r Olin, a Swedish researcher, discovers that the weight-loss drug Mira-loss, which has helped more than 30 million people shed pounds, causes fatal liver damage. The author quickly abandons this premise, however, and turns his tale into an international chase caper. When the drug's manufacturer is warned of the impending medical holocaust, the company brass mobilizes to keep news of the deadly flaw from reaching the FDA or the press. But Olin makes an extra set of discs containing the smoking gun information and puts them in the care of professional courier Simon Leonidovich. Simon, a man who's willing to transport anything anywhere if the price is right, soon finds himself hunted not only by the drug's manufacturer but also by a vicious killer named Retnuh, who wants the discs for personal profit. Leonidovich is a fascinating character, as is his sister and partner, Lara. The two share a feisty but loving chemistry, and their witty dialogue and unusual line of work make them ideal candidates for a series. Though the book is not the medical thriller it initially appears to be, it is still a taut, enjoyable ride.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"The Courier is a pulse-pounding pursuit thriller in the tradition of John Grisham's The Pelican Brief where the protagonist must use all of his survival instincts and wiles to evade a deadly assassin intent on killing him."
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More About the Author
An entrepreneur since the age of twenty-one, Jay MacLarty turned to the writing profession somewhat late in life. His first manuscript was deemed "too long and literary" for a first-time novelist, and he was told to "go write the popular book first." That book became THE COURIER - the first in a four-book series of thrillers published by Simon & Schuster - drawing on MacLarty's unique background in business, politics, and high-tech.
That book was followed by BAGMAN, LIVE WIRE, and CHOKE POINT. All four books have received literary recognition.
MacLarty is currently working on a stand-alone work of fiction.
That book was followed by BAGMAN, LIVE WIRE, and CHOKE POINT. All four books have received literary recognition.
MacLarty is currently working on a stand-alone work of fiction.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Courier vs Killer, Chase in Internet Era,
By APRICOT "ryoko" (Tokyo, Japan) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Courier (Mass Market Paperback)
The most remarkable feature of this novel is that both Simon (the courier) and the vicious killer who chases Simon fully apply computer and internet technology such as web search, e-mail, chat and so on. This novel vividly describes how human beings with flesh and blood use computers as a tool (not computers use human beings). Indeed, the classic battle between human beings is very thrilling and exciting. I would have given this novel 5 stars even without the hi-tech features. I admit this novel has several drawbacks, but I love an attractive novel much better than a perfect one. I am eager to read the next book.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not Bad...a good start to a series...,
By
This review is from: The Courier (Mass Market Paperback)
No one will confuse this with great literature or even the great thrillers...however, it is not a bad first novel. The story is very linear. Not an overly complex story--it is actually fairly simple. I wish there were more intriguing twists and turns. However, Simon and Lara are really promising characters. I liked the fact that Simon is not movie star good looking. He is a humble and good guy. The technology was used to good effect. I do hope to see more depth in Bagman.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Perfect Thriller --- No Wasted Characters or Moments Here,
By Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Courier (Mass Market Paperback)
I'm about to make a statement that won't let a cat out of any bag. It's more like commenting to the effect that, gosh, isn't the Emperor chilly when he walks around all naked like that. My observation, hardly groundbreaking, is that mass market paperbacks don't really get much critical respect. There's a bit of an elitist favoritism toward hardcovers, and their favored nieces, the trade paperback --- something about a trade paperback gives it an air of respectability --- but the mass market paperback (which we'll refer to from here on in as a paperback) gets no respect. They're pretty much everywhere, only cost a few (okay, maybe more than a few) bucks, and for the most part are a reprint of something that was out in hardcover a year before. Nothing supposedly says "cheap-ass" like a groaning bookcase full of paperback books. And if a writer's book goes --- horrors! --- "straight to paperback," it can't be any good. It's like all of Cynthia Rothrock's direct-to-video movies: fun to watch with some suspension of disbelief, but only when the wife is out of state visiting her mother. Otherwise, let's haul out the DVD version of Ordinary People one more time.But...but...(and here I do my very best imitation of a teakettle) it simply is not true! There are some great GREAT books that go directly to paperback and I am holding the proof right here in my sweaty palms, opposable thumbs holding it open. The title is THE COURIER, the author is Jay MacLarty, and the protagonist is...a courier. And while the title of this wonderful thriller isn't terribly imaginative, it's the only thing about the novel that isn't. Let's start with the courier, Simon Leonidovich, who runs his own courier service with his sister Lara functioning as secretary, office manager, and all-around coordinator. Their company, Worldwide SD, sounds like a huge operation, but it's just the two of them. And Simon is physically unimpressive, but he is a can-do guy; if you need something delivered from a Point A to a Point B anywhere in the world, then Simon will globetrot it there for you. It accordingly seems like just another day in the office when Simon gets the call to make a pickup at a small laboratory in Sweden and deliver it to the lab's U.S. home office in California. And there's a bit of lagniappe for Simon: Bain-Haverland, the contracting company, manufactures Mira-loss, a weight-loss drug that Simon and millions of other folks are happily taking to drop a few pounds and keep the weight off. The problem is that, unbeknownst to Simon, the pickup and delivery he has contracted for contains some lab results that demonstrate that Mira-loss has some very, very nasty long-term side effects. Bain-Haverland wants to make sure that those lab results never see the light of day outside of their offices. There is a duplicate set of records, however, and Simon has them. He doesn't quite know what he has, but he does know that something is definitely wrong. Simon soon finds himself on the run from Bain-Haverland and the mysterious, very dangerous Retnuh. If it's Simon's job to deliver things, then it's Retnuh's job to retrieve items that have been lost...or stolen. Retnuh is a ruthless and skilled assassin, and one of the most fascinating villains you'll ever hiss. He is soon chasing Simon literally all over the world, but there is more at stake than the records in Simon's possession. Simon may have the test results, but Retnuh has Lara. THE COURIER is a perfect thriller. There is no putting this book down once it's opened, and there isn't a wasted character or moment anywhere. When Webster's Dictionary issues its revised edition, it will have to put a picture of THE COURIER next to the definition of "page-turner." And --- YES! --- the final pages of THE COURIER contains an excerpt from BAGMAN, MacLarty's next book. And yes, it's coming straight to paperback. Who could have imagined that life can be so good? --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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