Checkmate

Bodman, a deputy press secretary and later senior director of the National Security Council under Reagan, comes up with a cool premise for her debut thriller, but the book suffers from annoying minutiae, lame jokes and pedestrian plotting. Computer genius Cameron "Cammy" Talbot of Bandaq Technologies has developed a program whereby she's able to hack into the guidance system of an incoming cruise missile and redirect it back against whoever fired it. Meanwhile, a Muslim terror group bent on taking over Kashmir has stolen three Pakistani cruise missiles, one of which it has fired into India in an effort to provoke a nuclear response against Pakistan. Lt. Col. Hunt Daniels of the Air Force becomes involved with Cammy after someone tries to kill her, and romantic sparks fly: "She could feel the hard muscles of his arms encircling her in a velvet vice." Insider info can be invaluable, but knowing the color of the drapery in the Oval Office (gold) doesn't make up for a thriller that keeps dipping back into romance for its source of suspense. Author tour. (Jan.)