A merger between two powerful corporate empires results in a breathless cross-country race by James Whiting and Jeanne Darrow when the pair discovers what is at stake if the merger is successfully completed. Reprint.
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Editorial Reviews
About the Author
Harvard: mention the name and you'll hear about academic excellence and overweening arrogance, about high-minded ambition and Harvard indifference, about pathways to power and people who think that power should be theirs simply because of where they went to college, about "the fellowship of scholars and educated men and women" and "the typical Harvard snob." And if this was a multiple choice test, I'd check all of the above, because Harvard is a place of great contradictions, which create conflict, which creates drama. That's why I decided to write about the place. And I went there, too. And my son goes there now. When he applied, I gave him this bit of advice, drawn from experience: "Some guys never get over the fact that they didn't get into Harvard. And some guys never get over the fact that they did. I don't want you to be either kind." But back when I was a senior at a Catholic high school in Boston, there was nowhere else that I wanted to go, because, quite simply, Harvard was the best you could ask for. That's what we'd heard, anyway. I arrived at Harvard in the fall of 1968. I had been assigned to Thayer Hall, a century-old dormitory in the Yard. It was my introduction to that world of history, tradition, and excellence. I stepped into my room and was greeted by? a three-foot pile of trash. Of all the rooms in all the dormitories in Harvard Yard, mine was the one that they had forgotten to clean. Or so I thought. That evening, my freshman education in the imperfections of even such an august institution as Harvard had begun. It would culminate on an April morning when I stood on the steps of that freshman dormitory and watched phalanxes of police eject student demonstrators from University Hall. It wasn't a tranquil time to go to college, but it wasn't boring, either. And for someone who knew that he wanted to pursue the business of story telling (in my application essay, I had written that I wanted to be like David Lean, the director of Lawrence of Arabia and other Hollywood epics), there was much to be learned of human drama as I watched disputes between students and administration spiral into outright conflict. But it wasn't all politics. Those of us who were not part of the rebellion developed a healthy cynicism about the rebels, the administration, the whole thing. Then we got on with out lives. When my son started at Harvard, I told him that after four years there, he should feel many emotions, and one of them should be exhaustion? from trying to partake of as much as he could at Harvard. The advice was drawn from experience. I majored in English, a good major for someone with my tastes. I directed plays, including "The Taming of the Shrew." I took courses from the so-called "great men" of the faculty like John Kenneth Galbraith, and from future greats like Stephen Jay Gould. I was tear-gassed, through no fault of my own. I worked as a research assistant for visiting history professors. I got food poisoning from an infamous tray of scalloped potatoes in the freshman union. I interviewed movie stars like James Stewart when they came to the Hasty Pudding, then wrote about them in the Harvard Independent. I tutored local kids in the Harvard Upward Bound program. I worked dorm crew and cleaned hundreds of toilets, including the one in Franklin D. Roosevelt's suite. I wrote an honors thesis in English about John Ford, a movie director. And I benefited from Harvard's generous financial aid policies. In the summers, I worked in the Boston construction industry, and I used to say that I learned more about life on a two-foot plank thirteen stories above Boston than I ever did at Harvard, but I don't think that's true. Harvard was more fun, and the place was good to me?. so good, in fact, that when I got married a year after graduation, my wife and I decided to have our reception in the courtyard of Kirkland House, the undergraduate residence where I'd lived. Then my wife and I headed west, t
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More About the Author
In his boyhood, William Martin loved what he later called "big stories on broad canvases." He read the novels of C.S. Forester, Dickens, and western author Will Henry. He sat transfixed by the big movies of the early sixties. So after college he went to Hollywood to try his hand at screenwritng but quickly found that his instincts were better suited to novels. His first, "Back Bay," introduced treasure hunter Peter Fallon in a new kind of adventure that joined the contemporary mystery-thriller to the historical novel. In his nine novels (including four best selling Peter Fallon adventures), Martin has tracked national treasures across the landscape of the American imagination, chronicled the lives of the great and the anonymous in American history, and brought to life legendary American locations, from "Cape Cod" to "Annapolis" to the "City of Dreams." He has also written an award-winning PBS documentary on the life of Washington and a cult-classic horror movie, has contributed book reviews to the Boston Globe, and has taught writing across the country, from the Harvard Extension School to the famous Maui Writers Conference. He lives near Boston with his wife and has three grown children. His work has established him as a "storyteller whose smoothness matches his ambition."(Publisher's Weekly) And he was the recipient of the 2005 New England Book Award, given to "an author whose body of work stands as a significant contribution to the culture of the region."
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Things are always more (or less) than they appear,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Nerve Endings (Mass Market Paperback)
While chronologically Martin's second novel, it is a clear departure from his now more familiar style of historical narration first used in Back Bay and then in his last three novels. Martin demonstrates his story telling ability without relying on history as a frame work. I was hooked from the first chapter and plowed through the near 500 page book in less than two days. Martin displays an uncanny abilty to lead the reader in one direction then turning the plot quickly almost 180 degrees while maintaining the integrity of the story. More than once I was totally surprised. It made for a most enjoyable read.For fans of Martin's more contemporary works this is an enjoyable change of pace, yet shows all the craftmanship in storytelling we have come to expect from Martin. While the best known works of Martin are historical, this book may accurately be classified as premonition. Published in 1984, Martin accurately predicts what has become a core problem in American society. If for no other reason the book should be read for this, but it is a great story.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
-- cable-TV & privacy, politics, medical miracles, bad guys & good.,
By L "P.S. Person" (Brooklyn Heights, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Nerve Endings (Mass Market Paperback)
"Nerve Endings" has intrigue, romance, and action. To balance the fantasy with a reality-check, it embeds political/technology issues and links them with the cable-TV industry. It presents physical/ethical issues by focusing on a kidney transplant recipient and a broken marriage. It mixes the glamour of Hollywood executives with grassroots Iowa farmers and hardworking Maine lobstermen. It got my attention and, after a fashion, I was amused, surprised, and riveted.
Mr. Martin's forte is that he keeps the reader magnetically drawn to continue reading. I'm not easily surprised and yet I was fooled when the plot took unexpected twists. Of particular note was the clever elimination of "a bad guy". Later, the handling of simultaneous actions in the last action-scene was impressive. I was even somewhat annoyed when phonecalls interrupted my reading. Bravo! "Nerve Endings" is adventurous. It has both cruel and tender moments and it is a thriller for men and women alike. The story is enhanced with cross-country locations, nature's seasonal beauty, with regional dialects, and with references to appropriate background music. More importantly, emphasis is placed upon a spirit of survival, determination, the pursuit of honorable happiness, and the kindnesses of strangers. All-in-all, reading "Nerve Endings" was fun and I recommend it. Enjoy! ... And when you're done with "Nerve Endings", read Mr. Martin's "Harvard Yard" and "Citizen Washington". They're even better.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Prophetic Marvel,
By
This review is from: Nerve Endings (Mass Market Paperback)
Matin's tale of a broadcast giant trying to influence politics via a in-home cable response system, is as entertaining as it is relevant with todays internet capabilities. A fast enjoyable read with enough adventure, crime, and science to thrill non-stop. WARNING: Book does not come with bulletproof vest. (The only way to put this book down is at gunpoint, and you may opt for the bullet.)
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