From Publishers Weekly
Hollywood loves Wager. Three of his thrillers have been made into successful films (Die Hard II; Telefon; Twilight's Last Gleaming), and for good reason. His novels are plot-driven story vehicles stripped of weighty character development or theme, maximized for narrative flow. His first novel since 58 Minutes (1988) is no exception. The story line spins around the existence of an especially dangerous biological weapon that kills by infecting its victims with a blue, fur-like fungus. The weapon is being readied for use by a generic North African dictator, part Saddam, part Khadafy. In response, the CIA activates a secret team of agents to destroy the fungus. The hook is that each of the members of the Spirit Team has been declared legally dead, so they can't be traced. They don't show much life on the page, either, but as one character says of them, "They're the best. They can do anything!" Including, probably, helping to turn this thin but lickety-split story into the movie or miniseries or TV series pilot it seems so desperately to want to be.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Barcelona Delta is a cancer-like organism that consumes every living thing in its path. Concocted and then discontinued as a U.S. war experiment, the deadly spores are now in the clutches of sinister dictator General Hassan in the Turat Valley of the fictional Islamic Republic of Madesh. CIA bureaucrat Edward Reed has prepared for just such an opportunity, siphoning millions in government money and assembling a secret unit of the world's most elite espionage experts he christens "The Spirit Team." The men and women of the team are essentially ghosts?faces changed by plastic surgery, altered fingerprints, and valid death certificates. The team assembles at the proper signals from Reed, their mission to neutralize Hassan and the killer organisms. The novel explores several frightening possibilities, but the characters remain stock. Libraries with limited budgets may want to skip this one.?Susan A. Zappia, Maricopa Cty. Lib. Dist., Phoenix, Ariz
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.