| Author | Ryne Douglas Pearson |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Espionage, Thriller |
Publication date | June 30, 1996 1st Edition Hardcover, July 31, 1997, 2nd Edition Paperback |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 326 pp (paperback edition) |
Simple Simon is an espionage/thriller novel by Ryne Douglas Pearson. The book was first published on June 30, 1996, in hardcover, and released in paperback on July 31, 1997. The 1998 film Mercury Rising, with Bruce Willis and Alec Baldwin, was based off Simple Simon.
Plot summary
editWhat was once thought as unbreakable is now broken. A 16 year-old autistic savant named Simon Lynch has cracked a new, extremely expensive, and highly top secret National Security Agency (NSA) code, codenamed 'Kiwi'. The boy is being hunted by assassins of the NSA, sent by Nicholas Kudrow, as he now sees the boy as a liability to national security. A Japanese spy named Keiko Kimura, one who prefers gruesome methods of killing, is also after Simon, but for somewhat different reasons than Kudrow. However, Simon has a protector, an outcast FBI agent named Art Jefferson who fights for what he believes is right for the boy. Before it is all over, Jefferson will have saved Simon from death many times, as the end finally comes when a helicopter carrying Simon crashes into Lake Michigan minutes after takeoff from the Sears Tower. Awhile later, Simon and Jefferson say goodbye, as Simon now has foster parents and status in the Witness Protection Program.