Killed in the Ratings - Matt Cobb, Bk 1 Author:William L. DeAndrea Network International Headquarters is sometimes known as the Tower of Babble, but to people in the television business, Network International is where the kings sit. This startling, compelling novel is the story behind the ruthlessness of such "kings." It is the story of a network executive's attempt to protect his daughter, the am... more »bitiousness of that daughter, of a woman's attempt to murder the man she hired to guarantee her husband's success, and of a complex of network men and women who have conspired with the Mafia to rig the television ratings system in a massive display of ruthlessness, ambition and greed.
When handsome, witty, Matt Cobb, a young network executive on his way to the top, is first assigned to "Special Projects" he is disappointed. He knows Special Projects is a "cover up" division--everything from drug abuse to a television star's shoplifting are skillfully and artfully swept under the rug before the press and the public can know of them. What he doesn't know is that through Special Projects he will unwittingly become the key figure in exposing the people and plans behind the rigging of the ratings system.
Cobb begind to get suspicious at the first mysterious phone call, but when he is caught by a homicide detective standing over a dead body, and arrested as a murderer, he knows his only chance is to find the real killer. Cobb tracks down the wife of Walter Schick, the network President who was injured a year earlier in an automobile "accident," in an attempt to uncover the killer's real identity. As he closes in on the case, someone tries to shut Cobb up. Cobb knows his only chance is to blow the ratings rigging system sky high, and find the real killer. Just as Cobb thinks he has him, the suspect is killed, and Cobb confronts the Network's chairman of the board, his daughter, and another executive in a chilling and surprising finale in the executive suite.« less