The fourth in a series of Nick Stone thrillers (after the well-received Firewall), this one gets off to an exciting if typical start as freelance assassin and ex-British SAS agent Stone orchestrates a precision team hit on a high-level target attending a snobby dessert social on the banks of the Thames. The target is to be identified by the team leader, Yes Man, who is to tap the victim on the left shoulder and wait for the snipers to do the dirty work. At the moment of contact, without explanation, Yes Man compromises the mission, and the police end up killing the three snipers. Stone is inexplicably given a second chance to complete his assignment alone by "last light Friday" at the victim's fortified home near the Panama Canal Zone. At this point (if not earlier), the novel loses coherence, dwelling on Stone's encounters with an aging tree-hugger college professor, his ganja-smoking young wife and their adopted daughter, who provide him with weapons and a base of operations in the Panamanian rain forest. Among Stone's spine-tingling preoccupations in Panama are chigger bites, a nagging headache and his nonstop guzzling of water, and there is a plethora of dialogue-driven exposition about Noriega's overthrow and the ruin of the rain forests. More choir boy than cold-blooded killer, Stone is given to mawkish introspection and invites self-destruction by confessing all sorts of sins to his colleagues. Most readers will be praying for an early sunset. 5-city author tour.(Aug.)
