Simple Simon

by Ryne Douglas Pearson

An autistic teenager. A ruthless assassin. An FBI agent who must risk everything to protect an innocent person from a savage.

All three are thrust together when Simon Lynch, a sixteen-year-old savant, unknowingly breaks the newest, most secure code developed by the National Security Agency. Corrupt elements within that government behemoth, determined to protect their creation, send Keiko Kimura, a beautiful and brutal terrorist, after the young man. Only FBI Special Agent Art Jefferson stands between the killer and her prey.

As though they were father and son, the bond between Art and Simon turns out to be as crucial to their survival as Art's decades of experience in the FBI. Together, they must evade their pursuers who track them through cyberspace and dog them at every turn.

The action in Simple Simon never lets up until its final, explosive conclusion.

192 pages, Audiobook

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Ryne Douglas Pearson is an accomplished novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of several novels, including Cloudburst, October's Ghost, Capitol Punishment, Simple Simon, Top Ten, The Donzerly Light, All For One, Confessions, and Cop Killer. He is also the author of the short story collection, Dark and Darker. His novel Simple Simon was made into the film Mercury Rising. As a screenwriter he has worked on numerous movies. The film Knowing, based on his original script, was released in 2009 and opened #1 at the box office. Receiving Four Stars from Roger Ebert, who branded it ‘among the best science-fiction films I’ve seen’, it went on to earn more than $180 million worldwide. He has also done uncredited work on films such as the remakes of The Day The Earth Stood Still and The Eye.

Despite the often ‘dark’ nature of his novels and films, Pearson has been noted to have a ‘sweet, disarming quality’ by Entertainment Weekly–an accusation he has been unable to shake. When not writing he is usually thinking about writing, or touting the wonders of bacon in online conversations. He is addicted to diet soda and the sound of his children laughing. A west coast native, he lives in California with his wife, children, a Doberman Kelpie and a Beagle Vizsla.