cover image CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY

CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY

Alexa Hunt, . . Forge, $24.95 (336pp) ISBN 978-0-7653-1149-8

Opening with several pages of simulated news stories, this near-future thriller screams its story: "Cartel Targets FBI, DEA, Judiciary!... President Declares State of Emergency." After thousands of Americans die in a coordinated attack by Colombian drug cartel assassins responding to a crackdown on their new drug, Elevator (a popular and often deadly combination of cocaine and Viagra), a new, ruthless super agency, the Bureau of Illegal Substance Control (BISC) is created. Elliott Delgado, former FBI agent, is called back into action when his old boss finds that several FBI agents have been assassinated by BISC agents. The FBI men were investigating intelligence that suggested that the BISC is preparing a strike against the Colombians on their home ground. This attack, and the retaliation, will likely result in a nuclear holocaust. Delgado accepts the assignment to investigate the BISC and is tracked by beautiful but deadly BISC assassin, Leah Berglund, with whom he quickly falls in love. The drug scenario is an intriguing premise, but the love portion of the equation is a continuing drag on the basic military/espionage elements. Hunt is the author (under her real name, Shirl Henke) of 26 romance books, and it shows. No amount of shoot-outs, car chases and helicopter battles can overcome pedestrian writing studded with lines like, " 'Mmm, I love hairy men,' she breathed, plowing her splayed fingers through the mat on his chest...." Agent, Nancy Yost. (Apr.)