Killer Cola

Shervell's creation reads more like a TV-movie script than a novel. Meticulously plotted around quick scene changes, it stars DEA special agent Mark Ashley, ``a Tom Selleck look-alike'' who suspects that a new form of cocaine, more deadly than crack, is about to hit America. Until it's mixed with soda pop, ``The New Stuff'' (TNS), a ``designer drug,'' appears to be a simple sugar; therefore its importation cannot be restricted. Ashley flies to Colombia, stalks the bad guys to their lair and formulates a plan to crush the druglords' daring exploit. Denise Pfeiffer, sex goddess and plaything of the Colombian cartel, is also an informant for the cause of the righteous. Fun in the sun, wild parties and grisly murders carry the action to its inevitable conclusion. This story with its cardboard characters needs a director and a cast of actors to give it life. (Aug.)