Game Plan

Wilson's sixth novel is a fast-moving thriller about a government experiment to increase mental ability by inserting tiny computer chips into the human brain. Ten years before the start of the story, five convicts who had been the government's guinea pigs escaped from--and blew up--the hidden laboratory where their mental powers were potently enhanced, and went into hiding while they drew on their vast knowledge to construct a nightmarish plot to dominate the world. When one of their number, Alfred Wynn, dies in a car accident in Jackson, Miss., pathologist David Lambert finds the chip in Wynn's brain. Lambert is brutally murdered soon after, prompting his friend Spence Stevens to put his optic nerve experiments on hold to track down Lambert's killers. Stevens enlists the aid of investigator Joey McDonald, who in turn contacts FBI agent Bob Kennedy, and the plot becomes a race for the good guys to discover as much information as they can about these super-intelligent criminals before the bad guys (and one very bad woman) catch up with them. It's an intriguing premise (how can you stay one step ahead of people who can out-think you?)-- spiced with a dash of '50s paranoia (how to identify whether a person has a chip in his head? It could be anyone), but Wilson (Donor; Embryo) chooses to stay within the bounds of a conspiracy thriller rather than enter Crichton territory. If the characters are slight, the roller-coaster action keeps readers turning pages. (Jan.)