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FULL SYNOPSIS

The Connie had a problem—it killed people.  The Conquistador, or “Connie” as it became affectionately known throughout the world, was a big, beautiful, top-heavy Sports Utility Vehicle.  One of the people the Connie killed was David Briggs’s father.

.....The story opens as Briggs, a bright and talented young man in his mid-twenties, wins a graduate assistantship at the University of Michigan’s Automotive Research Center, called the ARC.  However, just before Dave leaves home to begin his research, their Connie rolls, killing his dad.  As a result, Dave arrives in Ann Arbor with a vow to do extra work—designing safer SUVs that resist rollovers.

.....Dave’s passion for automotive research is matched by another student’s intense interest in opera.  Gina Spinelli, a voice major from Detroit, takes the apartment next to him.  She has a graduate assistantship in music, a major which she pursues against the wishes of her wealthy parents and without their financial support.  Her dad is chief operating officer, the COO, at World Motors Limited.  WML, the world’s largest motor company, manufactures the Connie.

.....Gina needs employment to pay her college expenses.  Dave helps her get a job at the ARC where, together, they work on the University’s solar car under the direction of Dave’s major professor, the brilliant Dr. Sally Martin.  Dave and Dr. Martin discover a cover-up.  They find research showing that WML knew the Connie was unsafe but built it anyway.  The two-year-old research has been suppressed since the engineer who authored it was killed in a car wreck. 

.....Dave’s heavy workload escalates.  Pressure builds as his ARC assignments, the national solar car race, his doctoral exams, and his attempts to expose the cover-up, combine to overwhelm him.  This causes a break-up with Gina and they become estranged.  His situation reaches an intolerable state when Dr. Martin is found dead under suspicious circumstances.

.....Then Dave’s car explodes and he comes face to face with the killer, the head of marketing at the giant motor company.  Help arrives from an unexpected source when Antonio Spinelli, Gina’s dad, joins Dave in his battle with the murderer.  Dave is injured, taken to the hospital.  The next morning, amid massive media coverage, the university’s cover-up is exposed, Dave and Gina are reconciled, and WML publicly acknowledges their vehicle’s safety problems.