Klynt's law : a novel /

Baker has previously highlighted some of our freer madnesses, but here he does too little with too much in this combo burlesque of academe, parapsychology and the gambling caper. Professor Tobias Klynt hopes to establish a proof of his three-S theory which he evolved in his shoestring lab at a pennypinching midwestern university. Each of us, he believes, is either a Seer (one who can predict events), a Svengali (one adept at psychokinesis), or a Shamus (one who can detect subtle patterns in a sequence of events). Klynt finds a genius in each category (two oafs and a pure young thing with a sour twin); and driven by lust for lucre and hatred of a monstrous wife, he takes his unlovely quartet to Las Vegas. The slightly flaked out system works and the syndicate hits back shortly after--but not before the professor's proteges have worked him over. The main interest here is in the spin of the wheel but there may be cinematic possibilities. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.