A strong, cunning writer, Sutherland knows how to plant his characters in complex, threatening situations and then turn them loose as the action escalates. The United Nations was his backdrop in 2001's Diplomatic Immunity, and now he achieves similar results with a political thriller set in the world of arms trading. U.S. Ranger Capt. Ned Rourke was a career soldier through the Gulf War, until he received a serious wound in the Mogadishu debacle. His first civilian job was as an instructor at West Point (which he loathed); the next as sales director for a small, somewhat disreputable arms manufacturer called Haplon. Rourke's wife, Fiona, a geologist who hated his dangerous military life, isn't thrilled by this latest career move, and their son, Brad—a budding geologist—shares her distaste. But Rourke isn't really dealing weapons to developing nations: he and his former army buddy Dimitri are doing deep undercover work for the Defense Intelligence Agency, trying to stop the illegal traffic that caused some of their men in the Gulf to be killed by U.S.-made arms. When an operation called "Hawkeye" starts to go bad and Dimitri is killed, Rourke's double life becomes increasingly perilous. Trapped on a Ukrainian freighter ferrying Haplon arms to the very same war-torn African country where his son has just taken a job, Rourke and a tough female U.S. Customs agent are up to their ears in angst and high-level treachery. Sutherland's narrative engine is definitely a thing of beauty, though it drives some seriously melodramatic action. When the drama threatens to become overwrought, Rourke's touchy, touching relationship with his wife and son provides a needed anchor. (Mar. 11)
