Lady of Ice and Fire

Alexander's second novel (after God's Adamantine Fate), an international thriller with a medical hook, is done in by downright eccentric plotting and prose. Cleveland scientist George Jeffers has created an enzyme that can bring a fortune to the biotechnology firm he works for--but the enzyme and the messenger carrying it have disappeared in Amsterdam. The feds, working with the firm, send George to Boston to brief their agent; there, the nerdy scientist mistakes a young woman's name for a code word, and soon he and the mysterious, beautiful Taylor Redding have discovered a body and are being trailed by ominous men. The pair's adventures take them to Europe, where the body count rises as they loot a box stuffed with cash and encounter Nazis (old and neo) and other threats. The action is breathless and, when it turns out that all the mayhem touches upon a plot to overthrow the government of a small country, readers may find it nonsensical; there is an over-the-top character revelation as well. Alexander's prose is equally hard to take (``A lack of concentration could easily get her killed, or worse, cause her to botch the job. The first prospect she could live with, the second she could not.''), making this a novel that is either too much or too little--but certainly not anything in between. (July)