All Risks Mortality

Any of the elements of this thrillerblending dirty financial dealings, massive insurance fraud, the grisly trail of an ex-Nazi and the threat of nuclear annihilation in Israelwould be enough to power an entire book. It's a shame, therefore, that these potent plot lines converge in a single, confusing novel that drags its heels right up to the unexpectedly hair-raising finale. After winning the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the great racehorse Cornucopia is put out to stud by the syndicate that owns it. When the horse dies suddenly, no one seems more upset than European construction magnate Carlo Galatti, who stands to gain $200 million in insurance money. Then Matt Blaney, a partner in a small insurance firm, undertakes a dangerous international investigation that links Galatti to more than one vicious crime. Closing in on the man from another angle are two agents from Israel's secret service. Cunningham excels in the emotional scenes connecting Galatti and an unbalanced Israeli physicist in possession of missing plutonium, but otherwise he finds it hard to breathe life into the stock characters and overly glib situations that fill the remainder of the book. (June)