Frankie Aguirre and Art Jefferson - 03 - Simple Simon

It took years to develop. Cost billions to perfect. A cryptographic system so advanced it safeguards the United States' most vital secrets. It is secure. Impenetrable. Until sixteen year old autistic savant Simon Lynch happens upon a forgotten snippet of code, his damaged brilliance breaking the cipher with ease and unwittingly marking him for death. Soon, elements of a pathological government security apparatus are hunting him, as is a beautiful, sadistic assassin working for enemies who will stop at nothing to learn the secret locked in Simon's mind. Only FBI Agent Art Jefferson stands between the innocent young man and these corrupt forces, putting his career, his freedom, and his life on the line to save Simon. *Simple Simon was made into the Bruce Willis film '**Mercury Rising**'.* ### Amazon.com Review Director Ron Howard bought the rights to turn this engaging thriller into a movie, and it's no wonder: the story of a 16-year-old autistic genius being protected by a renegade FBI operative against a secret government agency has all the elements of his kind of humanistic blockbuster. It also helps that Ryne Douglas Pearson--whose previous books, *Capitol Punishment* and *October's Ghost*, are also available in paperback--creates instantly likeable characters in unlikely situations. ### From Library Journal Sixteen-year-old Simon is autistic but very good at puzzles. When he breaks the main computer code for the National Security Agency (NSA), he is perceived as a threat. After the NSA's first attempt kills his parents, Simon is befriended by a Chicago FBI agent, Art Jefferson. The NSA then tries to eliminate Jefferson, first manipulating FBI charges against him, then arranging his wife's arrest. Running from the NSA and the FBI, Jefferson and Simon are then beset by a Japanese assassin with a taste for sadistic methods. The action culminates in a shoot-out on top of Chicago's Sears Tower and a fiery crash over Lake Michigan. Action-packed and fast-paced, with pungent prose, Pearson's (Capitol Punishment, LJ 7/95) latest novel is a cyberthriller that keeps the reader flipping pages frantically. Recommended for public libraries.?M.J. Simmons, Duluth P. L., Minn. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.