Leap Point [Mass Market Paperback]

Kay Kenyon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 1998

In 2014, Medicine Falls is just another rural town with a dying economy and a way of life that has become increasingly irrelevant. The lure of the Net and virtual-reality games has replaced the malls and movie theaters. The hottest game of all is Nir--short for Nirvana--with its promise of escape into a world of addictive pleasures.

When Abbey McCrae's teenage daughter dies mysteriously, everyone calls it suicide. But Abbey believes it's murder, somehow connected to her daughter's addiction to Nir--and to the cultlike Dimension Institute, led by the charismatic Zachariah Smith. As more and more townspeople fall under Nir's spell, Abbey and a cynical detective uncover a horrifying conspiracy involving the game, the Institute, and the secret "guests" Zachariah Smith keeps at his ranch. And Abbey will learn that she alone can stop an alien threat that seeks to consume all of humanity....

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Set in the near future, Kay Kenyon's second fast-paced, exciting science fiction novel follows three story lines in Midwestern Medicine Falls... Abby McCrae lives quietly with a roommate above her 20th century antique shop. She still grieves for her teenager daughter Vitt, who committed suicide two years earlier. At least, everyone thinks it was suicide. After finding her diary, Abbey discovers Vitt's addiction to a virtual reality game called Nir, and her "studies" at the cultlike Dimension Institute. Concerned about foul play, she hires a detective to help her uncover the truth.

Another story line tracks the shady maneuvers of Dimension Institute's charismatic leader, Zachariah, who has plans and secrets of his own and doesn't want Vitt's mother poking around in them. One secret he's hiding involves his connection to an alien race secreting themselves and their "leap point" out on Zachariah's ranch. The townspeople of Medicine Falls make up another thread. Depressed by the economy and growing isolation, more and more of them take comfort in Nir, short for Nirvana; if real life and love is disappointing, there's always a better, if virtual, reality while playing. Suspense builds as the three threads interweave, catalyzed by the growing threat of Nir and the aliens, who seek to conquer humanity.

From Library Journal

A hard-boiled detective with a damaged reputation teams up with a woman desperate to discover the killer of her daughter and uncovers an alien conspiracy in the small town of Medicine Falls. The author of The Seeds of Time (Bantam, 1997) pits her resilient pair of heroes against an ambitious and ruthless cult leader, a herd of sinister alien invaders, and an addictive virtual reality game in a fast-moving sf thriller reminiscent of the early genre pulps. Suitable for large sf collections.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (March 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553576828
• ISBN-13: 978-0553576825
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,250,312 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kay Kenyon has a message for aspiring writers: Never give up! Although she has published 10 science fiction novels, she remembers how tough it was to break in. She'd been working full time to support herself and her son, commuting two hours a day, and stealing time in the evenings to write, and finding only rejections from agents and publishers. Then she wrote The Seeds of Time, and after eight years of work she was an overnight success. Since then her work has been published in French, Spanish, Czech and Russian, and is available in audio versions.

Kay's best known work is The Entire and The Rose series. She is very grateful for the reception of these books, beginning with Bright of the Sky--named one of the best books of 2007 by Publishers Weekly--and ending with Prince of Storms. Also, she has been buoyed by the incredible artwork on these covers, the work of the phenomenal Stephan Martiniere. (Authors love all their books, but when you get an ugly cover, you just have to hold your head up and act proud!)

Kay is hard at work on a new novel, believing--as writers usually do--that it is her best yet. You can catch up with her latest work at www.kaykenyon.com, where she often blogs on the craft of writing and trends in the industry. You can also follow her on Face Book.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mainly the characters, November 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Leap Point (Mass Market Paperback)

Really cool idea, and parts of the story was enjoyable, but the main problem I had was with the characters. They were too unbelievable for me; they accepted too quickly with what was going on, and were ready to believe anything. There were other problems I had with the story that I couldn't put my finger on, but it just rang wrong.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fabulous Tale by a complete Writer, April 2, 2002

By 

Jeffrey P. Provencher "Raven" (Mystic, Ct. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leap Point (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a tale of the struggle against world dominance by beings from another world. A woman struggles to cope with the loss of her daughter and fights to find the person to blame it on and in the midst of her search stumbles onto a group of alien beings that are in the process of pulling humankind into there net of control... somewhat reminiscent of the Body Snatchers syndrome but instead is a brain snatching plot that is very unique and very possible.... This book is another masterpiece by Kay Kenyon, the more you read the harder it is to put the book down... This is a Science Fiction fans delight... Bravo Kay Kenyon !! Thanks for another fabulous book....

1.0 out of 5 stars Well written bad book, December 4, 2009

By 

Evan the Dweezil (A Place-Sort Of, Montana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leap Point (Mass Market Paperback)

Abbey and the rest of the people in this book are just depressing souls with depressing lives, uninteresting to read about. The alien plot is dull and extremely unoriginal. Kenyon's NA characters are stereotypical in a very unflattering way. I struggled to find anything of merit about Leap Point.

The sad thing is that Kenyon's writing is good, she just has poor characters set in lousy stories. At least Seeds of Time was so bad it was funny. Leap Point is just bad.