'Death Match' should prove a popular beach read

Lincoln Child's sleek, futuristic new novel concerns itself with that most elusive of holy grails, the perfect marriage.

In "Death Match," reclusive genius Richard Silver has built the world's most powerful computer, which he calls Liza, and used it to make Eden Corp. the Microsoft of romance. For $25,000, Eden's staff will give you extensive testing, and then Liza will match you with the partner of your dreams. Eden officials say their computer-matched couples have at least a 95 percent compatibility rate (the average marriage, they say, scores around 35 percent), and six "supercouples" are actually 100 percent compatible.

Alas, this record is threatened when one of the supercouples, the Thorpes, inexplicably carries out what appears to be a double suicide. Enter foewnaix psychologist Christopher Lash, who is hired by Eden officials to find out what went wrong. His initial investigation shows that neither of the Thorpes had shown any sign of depression, financial worries or marital discord. The suicides seem an impenetrable mystery. Then a second supercouple dies in an almost identical fashion.

Lash learns that Liza has access to government, bank, travel and medical records and can learn virtually everything about clients. Eden's offices become increasingly creepy. The cafeteria serves the best espresso Lash has ever tasted, but after drinking it he feels very strange. Eden puts Lash through its testing and then Liza matches him with his perfect partner. Their first date is indeed memorable. Diana teaches English literature at Columbia and is just back from a six-week tour of France. Soon they are discussing Tiresias, who in Greek mythology was both woman and man, and then they start tossing haiku across the table.

Diana is cool, but by then we readers -- if not Lash -- are suspicious: Is she a ringer, part of whatever dark conspiracy is unfolding at Eden?

"Death Match" should be a popular beach book this summer because it is slick, sophisticated entertainment. But the novel is also derivative, uneven and burdened with too much high-tech mumbo jumbo. Worst of all, it turns out that Liza can't really produce a perfect marriage. If you want one of those, you still have to trust in dumb luck.