The Fire Theft: 2a Novel

Graham's third thriller (after The Missing Sixth and The Harbinger ) has enough poise and panache to evoke favorable comparisons with the work of Robert Ludlum and Jack Higgins. The story revolves around archeologist Stephen Kaine, whose discovery and excavation of the ancient Persian city of Kasmin-Yar has been cut short by the Turkish government. When the Calais-to-Dover ferry carrying Kaine's daughter Angela is deliberately scuttled by a Turk, the archeologist and his ex-wife Danielle become enmeshed in a far-reaching international conspiracy that seems to involve everybody from Scotland Yard to the American embassy. Intricate plot twists and believable characters send Kaine from England back to Turkey to discover the secrets behind Kasmin-Yar, gradually isolating him and revealing a world in which no one can be trusted and everyone knows more than he about what's really going on. For all his amateur blundering, Kaine manages to hold his own with little help from friends like the enigmatic and alluring Jaymin Bartel. Combining Ludlum's complexity (without the exclamation points) and Higgins's drive (without the occasionally thin narration), Graham has cooked up a robust thriller: fast-moving, well-written and crisply told, a real attention-grabber. 35,000 first printing; major ad/promo. (Oct.)