Vortex

Year: 1994 Pages: 270 William Holley, a San Francisco narcotics lieutenant, is on the trail of Walter Matheson, a businessman and cocaine trafficker who imports "snow" from Canada. And when Matheson rents a small Cessna to make a delivery beyond the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, Holley is ready to arrest him. But the plane crashes, and Matheson reappears a week later in San Francisco, denying knowledge of the fact. Meanwhile, two climbers, Alex Townsend and Gordon Wilson, get involved in a seemingly simple affair to make quick money. And as the police and criminals get closer, Gordon, Alex and his girlfriend Linda are caught in an uncontrollable vortex of desires and guilt. David Harris narrates his story with synthesis and vigor, skillfully combining the setting and the characters in a story full of tension set against the backdrop of the mountains and cities of the States and Canada. The novel appeared for the first time in the collection One Step in the Clouds and received immediate acclaim.