Remote Control

In this gripping tale, the fifth tale (after Harm's Way) to feature Boulder, Colo., psychologist Alan Gregory, White shifts his focus to Gregory's wife, assistant DA Lauren Crowder. Lauren shoots at the figure of man in a blizzard while trying to protect her friend, Emma Spire, who became an unwilling Kennedy-level celebrity when her father, the U.S. surgeon general, was assassinated by anti-abortion radicals. When the police find a man critically wounded by gunshot in the nearby street, Lauren turns herself in. Emma's fears have been triggered by an attempted kidnapping and by the disappearance of a disk made by her boyfriend, computer genius Ethan Han, who has a special interest in virtual reality. On the disk, Ethan has recorded his neurological responses during their lovemaking. In trying to maintain Emma's privacy, Lauren is cryptic with the police, exacerbating their suspicions of her actions--and causing a flare-up of the symptoms accompanying her multiple sclerosis. Throughout, White cuts between Lauren's jailhouse ordeal and events leading to the arrest. Did Lauren do it, or was another shooter nearby? Is Emma's peril connected to her father's murder? Despite the preposterous premise (experienced prosecutor with impaired vision fires a gun in a blinding snowstorm), White keeps the reader hooked as Lauren, Alan and their attorneys try to establish her innocence. The savvy, sassy lawyers, named Casey and Cozy, deserve their own book. 100,000 first printing; author tour. (Apr.)