Solitaire

After Beishir's fast-paced thriller A Time for Legends , this tale of love and intrigue in the posh world of international polo is disappointingly heavy-handed. When bestselling author Sloane Driscoll decides to make professional polo the backdrop for her next book, a friend introduces her to world-class player Jordan Phillips. It's lust at first sight for Sloane and Jordan, but Sloane, who is stubbornly secretive about her past, resists long-term involvement. Meanwhile Jordan's polo team is plagued by a series of dangerous mishaps. His persistent wooing of Sloane finally pays off, but her fears for Jordan's safety, compounded by her insecurities about herself and her past, plunge her into a terrifying bout with drug addiction. Unfortunately, the mystery threaded through this busy work is crudely handled. It is painfully evident that the ``accidents'' are deliberate, and Beishir, furthermore, inserts numerous scenes in which two unidentified characters arrange them. Far from increasing tension, these sequences give one the feeling that the author suspects her readers need to be told the obvious--ad nauseam. (Apr.)