The Fourth Bear
Categories: [ Books ]
The Gingerbreadman, a vicious killer, has escaped from the psychiatric hospital, but for political reasons the Nursery Crime Division is not allowed to investigate; Jack Spratt is even suspended. Spratt is then privately asked to investigate the disappearance of Goldilocks, a journalist who was investigating mysterious explosions (three past and one present) that seem to be related to the growing of record-size cucumbers by retired pysicists. After finding a house in the forest with three bears, Spratt discovers Goldilock's remains at SommeWorld, a theme park about the Battle of the Somme, financed by the Qangle Wangle, that features simulated artillery explosions that are actually dangerous. Spratt is then lured back to the bear's house only to find they have been shot, and is attacked by the Gingerbreadman who manages to escape. One clue left by the papa bear leads to a member of parliament that is friendly to the community of anthropomorphic bears who lives in Reading. Jack eventually understands that it is false trail, and that the real culprit is a fourth bear bearing the same initials and the lover the mama bear in the house and head of the secretive National Service who has been harrassing Jack during his investigation. Jack's team then disarms a nuclear device that was set to explode in the bear district: a giant cucumber that is able to extract deuterium and tritium from water and that, when reaching the critical mass of 50 kg is able to self-ignite. Returning to SommeWorld, Jack confronts the head of QuangTech, who is associated with the fourth bear. They escape while the Gingerbreadman (for whom Jack has found proof that he was made by the now-defunct experiment weapons division of QuangTech) plays a vicious game of cat and mouse with the detectvie. Immune to bullets due to his biscuit-texture, Jack uses the offices' sprinkler system to soak and disable him.