Steven J. Frank

The Uncertainty Principle

Frank's novel has drawn accolades from technology-savvy readers who revel in their nerd identities. But the lawyer-author, with humor, snappy dialogue and a headlong plot, hopes to capture non-techie readers as well.

  -- Boston Sunday Globe

In The Uncertainty Principle, Steven J. Frank does for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology what the novel and film The Paper Chase did for Harvard Law School. ... Characters are sharply drawn. There is Jeffrey S. Watt, [the narrator's] zen-spouting, downwardly mobile research advisor; Rita Dorfman, his brilliant, confrontational girlfriend; and Dexter D. Drain III, his competitive, patrician roommate. The plot advances through skillful use of dialogue, which often crackles.

  -- Spectrum

The Sell-Out

Crime and corruption accompany Jersey City growth in Frank's (The Uncertainty Principle) second novel. Patrolman Russell Hartman nearly derails his career by taking on detective work to find the killer of a Latino businessman. Already romantically involved with the man's niece, Russell notes disturbing discrepancies in the case, finds links to a syndicate that wanted to buy the man's business, and discovers the body of a police detective killed outside Russell's apartment building. This is a very good procedural, replete with smooth prose, departmental conflict, and diverse characters. Strongly recommended for most collections.

  --  Library Journal

The Sell-Out features patrol cop Russ Hartman and ethnically polarized, urbanized Hudson County, N.J. When it seems that a murder victim had some unsavory secrets, Hartman tries to protect the deceased's niece from finding out, and from becoming the next victim.

  --  Publishers Weekly