Father's Day

Screenwriter Trustman ( The Thomas Crown Affair ; Bullitt ) has produced a charmless, tedious and unpleasant thriller about international finance, terrorism and sleazy sex. When Michael Collins's 13-year-old son loses a leg as the result of a terrorist bombing in Paris, the outraged father swings into action. Since he is an international currency trader with a surplus of money and a talent for firearms and explosives, it's no great trick for Collins to eventually track down Diego, the evil bomber. Needless to say, Diego, who has no apparent reason for his depredations, is merely a pawn in a larger scheme for control of the world's currency markets hatched by an oversexed septuagenarian ex-Nazi. Trustman tells this absurd tale in a deadpan, terse style, a telegraphic cascade of sentence fragments that quickly lulls the reader into a stupor. He provides little texture, background, motivation or characterizaton--only an endless catalogue of expensive brand names, typical of the international thriller at its worst. If this first novel were a parody, it might almost be funny, but Trustman's obvious earnestness makes it almost uncomfortable to read. (Sept.)