Havoc

Thriller fans who don't demand much realism in their reads should enjoy the first hardcover entry in bestseller Du Brul's adventure series featuring geologist and spy Philip Mercer (Vulcan Forge , etc.). The novel opens with an intriguing premise—that the Hindenburg zeppelin blew up in 1937 as the result of sabotage aimed at keeping a crackpot academic's discoveries secret. In the present-day Central African Republic, Mercer hooks up with the de rigueur attractive but brainy female, Cali Stowe, who's a U.S. intelligence agent posing as a medical researcher. As the pair dodge death from violent insurgent armies in predictable action sequences, they exchange light banter—and learn that the African nation is the source of a radioactive element coveted by terrorists that may have been used by Alexander the Great to defeat his foes. Du Brul is the coauthor with Clive Cussler of the Oregon Files novels, Dark Watch and Skeleton Coast . (Oct.)