cover image The Risk of Heaven

The Risk of Heaven

Bob Berger. Dell Publishing Company, $4.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-440-22052-7

This is the second Dr. Risk mystery by Berger, who, like his amateur-sleuth hero, is an expert on the theories of risk and probability. The mild-mannered Risk is not the kind of person you'd expect to find waking up on an abandoned Hudson River pier, which is precisely where the first chapter finds him. He appears to be suffering the worst hangover of his life, and all he can remember of the previous night is going to a party hosted by his old college friend, Bill Golden. When he returns home, he is horrified to find the police waiting to arrest him on charges of molesting Golden's little girl. Freed on bail, Dr. Risk uses all the tricks of his risk-theory trade to find out what happened and fill in the big hole in his memory. There's plenty of slam-bang action as well as fascinating risk-theory hypotheses as he careens from Brighton Beach to the East Village in search of the truth. On his urban odyssey, Risk encounters enough villainous activities and assorted mob types to make up several mystery stories, but Berger manages to bring all his characters and plot elements together in a satisfying, though not unexpected, conclusion. (June)