THE ARM OF THE STARFISH

Product Description When Adam Eddington, a gifted marine biology  student, makes the acquaintance of blond and beautiful  Kali Cutter at Kennedy International Airport on  his way to Portugal to spend the summer working for  the renowned scientist Dr. O'Keefe, he has no idea  that this seemingly chance meeting will set into  motion a chain of events he will be unable to  stop.Caught between Kali's seductive  wiles and the trusting adoration of Dr. O'Keefe's  daughter, Poly, Adam finds himself enmeshed in a  deadly power struggle between two groups of people,  only one of which can have right on its side. As the  ddanger escalates, Adam must make a decision that  could affect the entire world--which side is he  on? Review “Tense, tricky, well-plotted,The Arm of the Starfish has all the stuff of which adult spy novels are made.”—The New York Times Book Review“From the opening paragraph, which places Adam Eddington in a great airport, its atmosphere tense with hurry and frustrations, the story rushes ahead, never losing momentum.”—The Horn Book“What [Adam Eddington] expects to be a quiet but interesting summer of work with the famous marine biologist Dr. O’Keefe becomes a time of intrigue, with Adam playing a leading role in the struggle to extract information on the doctor's experiments with regeneration of starfish.”—School Library Journal About the Author MADELEINE L’ENGLE (1918–2007) was the author of many books for children and adults. She is perhaps best known for the Time Quintet, especiallyA Wrinkle in Time, which won a Newbery Medal, and her books featuring the Austin family, including the Newbery Honor BookA Ring of Endless Light. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Arm of the Starfish1A heavy summer fog enveloped Kennedy International. The roar of the great planes was silenced but in the airport there was noise and confusion. Adam wandered about, trying not to look lost, keeping one ear open to the blaring of the loudspeaker in case his flight to Lisbon should be called or canceled. His bags had long since disappeared on the perpetually moving conveyor belt, and he was too excited to sit anywhere with a book. All he could do was walk about, looking and listening, caught up in the general feeling of tension.An extra load of business was being conducted over the insurance counters and at the insurance machines. Adam debated between a machine which would give him insurance and one which would give him coffee, and chose the coffee. Holding the paper cup in one hand, and his battered school briefcase in the other, he walked through a crowd of agitated people who had come to meet planes which were now being deflected to Boston and Philadelphia.The hot, sweet coffee finished and the carton disposed of in a trash can, Adam headed for a row of phone booths, but they were all occupied by frustrated people whose plans had been changed by the July fog, so he decided against trying to call any of his friends. Probably no one would be home, anyhow; they were either away for the summer or busy with summer jobs.So there was no point in trying to impress anyone with his job which had come up suddenly and gloriously after he and his parents had moved to Woods Hole for the summer and he was already set in the familiar routine of sorting and filing for Old Doc Didymus.Doc might be ninety and doddering, but it was he who had said, the second day Adam reported for work, "Adam, I'm letting myself get dependent on you in the summer and this isn't good for either of us. My young friend, O'Keefe, is doing some rather extraordinary experiments with starfish on an island off the south coast of Portugal, and I'm sending you over to work for him this summer."Strangely enough it was almost as easy as it sounded, parental permission, passport, inoculations, and a ticket to Lisbon.Adam, like every biology major, had heard of Dr. O'Kee