Field of Thunder

Vengeance drives the convoluted plot of this romanticized action thriller from Flem-Ath (coauthor, with Rand Flem-Ath, of When the Sky Fell) set during the U.S. build-up to the war with Iraq. The international intrigue brings together a varied cast: Australian survivors of a 1956 British-monitored atom bomb test (called ""field of thunder"" by the local aborigines) who are now privy to Gulf War secrets; Dr. Ahmed Maher, a sleeper Iraqi agent and biological weapons jock; and Maher's neglected wife, Zuleika, separated from her young son and chafing at Arab rules for women. When CIA spy August Riley lands at the Australian satellite base, Maher is alerted and calls in his London-based brother as a hit man. Meanwhile, Riley joins up with Zuleika in the race to catch Maher, who has kidnapped his son and leads his pursuers through London and Jordan on the way to deliver his ultimate weapons to a Scud launching site in the Iraqi desert. Flem-Ath's breathy prose will appeal more to action fans than to readers of espionage or techno-thrillers, though the plot provides action aplenty with some interesting twists. Characters' personal traits are muddy and conflicting, although the protagonists have clear ethnic tags. Settings cover the globe adroitly, and the resolution amply satisfies. (Nov.)