cover image Maximum Vigilance

Maximum Vigilance

Steve R. Pieczenik. Warner Books, $19.95 (431pp) ISBN 978-0-446-51556-6

Loading a catastrophe into every chapter and ``using psychosexual constructs to explain world events,'' Pieczenik ( Blood Heat ) draws on his State Department crisis management experience to fuel this provocative political thriller. Dr. Desaix Clark, psychiatrist and crisis consultant for the White House, returns home from a negotiating session in Japan to find Washington poised for nuclear war, locked in the worst crisis since presidents Westview and Zotov succeeded Bush and Yeltsin. Westview warns of a coup against his presidency, while the Secretary of State insists that Westview himself is behind the plot and begs Clark to declare him insane. Meanwhile, Zotov is abducted in a Russian coup that seems connected to the U.S. crisis by a mysterious ``Project Baltimore.'' As top cabinet personnel are assassinated, Clark and Mary Dougherty, Westview's security chief, team up to crack the mystery. Only intermittently suspenseful, the narrative would have been more successful if the protagonists had less ego and libido and more integrity. Much of the confused action is espionage cliche, but readers may remain focused, since the question of who the bad guys are is adroitly withheld until the end. (July)