Dragonfire

North Vietnamese troops are at the border of Thailand, poised to pursue Cambodian rebels across the line. By violating Thailand's sovereignty, they will draw the U.S. into another war. And so, in this adventure novel, the CIA sends Michael Parker on an unusual mission. He will offer the Cambodian resistance arms in exchange for a valuable supply of morphine that the U.S. will keep from the hands of drug dealers. But agent Parker is seized, and in his stead, a one-eyed golden boy, code name Sawyer, is sent together with a beautiful Eurasian companion. Kaplan (Hour of the Assassin tries to reconcile worshipful attitudes toward Oriental wisdom with a harsh portrayal of Asian cruelties committed for selfish as well as national interests. Sometimes this combination gives his novel a thrilling plausibility. Often, it leaves the battered English of Kaplan's many perfidious Oriental characters ringing uncomfortably in the reader's ears. (July 16)