Present Danger

William J. Buchanan. MacMillan Publishing Company, $16.3 (210pp) ISBN 978-0-02-517970-7

Air Force electronics expert Major Jonathan War is suddenly removed from a high-level project and ordered to help investigate the circumstances surrounding the mysterious crash of a top-secret experimental aircraft, the XR-2100. Leading the inquest are General Lou Burnside and Colonel Robert MacWatt; they had first met during the Korean War, when Burnside had unwittingly stolen the love of McWatt's life, now Burnside's wife. It turns out that the XR-2100 was deliberately crashed by its ace pilot, Peter Crowell, in order to call attention to its nefarious missionto sterilize a portion of South Africa's black population using Kronus, an Agent Orange-like chemical. Buchanan (A Shining Season writes at a smooth, fast clip, effectively blending an Air Force soap opera with a high-tech electronics suspense story. (March 17)

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