Vertical Run

David Elliot, businessman and Vietnam vet, is having an extraordinarily bad day. His boss has tried to kill him; code-named mercenaries stalk the corridors of his New York office building with orders to shoot him on sight; and even his wife and son have turned against him. To find out why everyone wants him dead, Elliot will reacquire skills he thought long gone, relive his previous few days on the job and find out just who his true friends really are-but first, he has to get out of his office building alive. Garber (Rascal Money) sets up Elliot's quandary convincingly, and if the forces arrayed against this resourceful hero seem a mite excessive, they reflect both the nature of the threat he unwittingly poses and the narrative's fashionably cynical view of how certain parts of the government clean house. The pace is fast, the action constant and the characters believable, especially the head mercenary, Ransome, who is in many ways Elliot's cold and ruthless twin. Elliot himself is more than just a sketchy action hero, thanks to flashbacks of his experiences in Vietnam, his adoption of some clever and surprising disguises and a quirky fondness for Mark Twain, whom he quotes throughout. Because Garber keeps things simple yet detailed, this highly satisfying, high-concept mix of D.O.A. and Die Hard, which tightens the suspense screws mercilessly and winds up with Elliot scaling the face of his office building, stands as one of the most invigorating thrillers of the summer. Major ad/promo; film rights sold to Jon Peters; BOMC alternate; translation rights: Ellen Levine. (Aug.)