Out of the Sun: A Novel - Couverture souple

When Harry Barnett is anonymously informed that his son is languishing in hospital in a diabetic coma, he is certain there must be some mistake, since he does not have a son. But he soon discovers that he does. David Venning is a brilliant mathematician, whose illness is taken to be either a tragic accident or a suicide attempt. But, oddly enough, his notebooks are missing from the hotel room in which he was found. And Harry discovers that two other scientists employed, like David, by Globescope Inc., an American forecasting institute, have died in mysterious circumstances. Perhaps David is actually the victim of attempted murder. And perhaps the deaths of other Globescope staff are not the coincidences they seem.

Pursuing the truth in England, Denmark and the United States, Harry finds himself entangled in several different kinds of conspiracy, none of which he should - in theory - be able to defeat. But as before in his life, Harry finds that circumstance and theory are not necessarily the same thing.

Harry Barnett is shocked to learn that he has a son - David Venning, a brilliant mathematician, now languishing in hospital in a diabetic coma. And this is only the first and smallest of the mysteries he is about to encounter.

David's condition is attributed to an accident or suicide attempt. But Harry discovers that his mathematical notebooks are missing from the hotel room where he was found and two other scientists employed by the same American forecasting institute have died in suspicious circumstances. Driven on by the slim hope of saving the son he never knew he had, Harry goes in search of the truth and finds himself entangled in several different kinds of conspiracy - none of which he ought to stand the slightest chance of defeating.

Harry Barnett was the flawed hero of Robert Goddard's earlier novel, the award-winning Into the Blue. But nothing in that experience prepared him - or the reader - for the baffling conundrums and heart stopping suspense of Out of the Sun.