From Publishers Weekly
Morris, retired naval aviator and author of two previous thrillers ( Alpha Bug ), offers here a variant of the theme of the Islamic Bomb. A splinter group of Muslim terrorists, The New Shaheen, is provided with two nuclear devices by the Soviet Union. They use one to destroy a U.S. aircraft carrier and smuggle the second into downtown San Antonio, holding the city hostage until their demands for Israel's neutralization are met. The pace is fast, with the final confrontation, set atop San Antonio's Tower of the Americas, dramatic and well crafted. Morris's outline of America's domestic and international response to small-scale nuclear attack is provocative. Its development is, unfortunately, sacrificed to the overlong narration of CIA agent Davey Morales's vain pursuit of the terrorists from Cuba through Belize and Mexico. The result, a schizophrenic story line, part political thriller and part espionage adventure, becomes less than it might have been by trying to be too much.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Morris captures the traditional fast-pace of political thrillers by Ludlum and le Carre in this suspenseful novel. He expertly slices open the secretive shroud surrounding the FBI, CIA, KGB, and GRU, allowing the reader a well-informed peek into how tenuous the thread is that holds together the fabric of a sane world. Middle Eastern factions are willing to use nuclear destruction against nations they consider representatives of Satan. Their lack of reverence for lives outside the circle of Allah is frightening to the Western mind. The finality to which Morris brings the reader is chilling, as he eloquently points out that logic can be defined by entirely disconnected sets of standards. Highly recommended.
- M.J. Hethcoat, San Francisco
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- M.J. Hethcoat, San Francisco
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
