Red Card: A Novel of World Cup 1994 - Hardcover

Hoyt, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312855540 ISBN 13: 9780312855543

Publisher: Forge, 1994

Synopsis

After two German soccer players are killed by a sniper before the 1994 World Cup tournament, their manager receives two red penalty cards, and James Burlane is hired to investigate

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

Here's a terrorist with a sense of propriety: Before launching attacks against players in soccer's World Cup, he sends yellow penalty cards--warnings of serious fouls meriting ejection--to the German and American teams. The officials of FIFA (the International Federation of Football Associations) decline to cancel the matches, and the man who calls himself Edson kills two German stars after their victory over South Korea in the Cotton Bowl, then wreaks more havoc just before the Americans' game against Holland in Giants Stadium. It's up to James Burlane, FIFA's choice to head the investigation, to learn enough about Edson's identity, motives, and methods to head him off before the next round of penalty cards. He can begin by figuring out what Juan Carlos Rodriguez, vengeful owner of Argentina's club, Independiente, and FIFA Emergency Commission chair Sir Roger Dusenberry have to do with Edson. Hoyt (Bigfoot, 1992, etc.) turns in a tidy, clever performance that lacks the overscaled assurance of the antiterrorist classics. Despite its pro forma hype--the final confrontation is billed as ``the defenders of Rowayton versus the devil's striker''--this isn't any more exciting than the World Cup games Edson disrupts. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

A soccer mystery whose release coincides with the summer's World Cup competition seems a brave, smart shot. Hoyt ( Marimba ; Whoo? ) offers heaps of soccer lore, including the sport's history: the years of domination by Germany, Italy and Brazil, and the emergence of the defensive game. Here Edson, an elusive and skillful killer, arrives in Dallas the same day as the German team manager receives two yellow cards (in soccer, a yellow card is a warning from the referee) in the mail. After two German stars are expertly gunned down, red cards (meaning the player must leave the field) are received. The international soccer organization hires soccer-lover and former CIA operative James Burlane, aka Major Khartoum, to track the killer. Through his soccer-obsessed characters, Hoyt manages to educate as he entertains. Sometimes the explanations stall the pace, but in general the action moves briskly among Edson, Burlane and the teams. Whether the American reading public is ready for a soccer mystery may be determined by how the World Cup plays in the U.S.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Forge
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0312855540
• ISBN 13: 9780312855543
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 253