cover image Target Stealth

Target Stealth

Jack Merek. Warner Books, $18.95 (352pp) ISBN 978-0-446-51470-5

Designed to appeal to weaponry hardware enthusiasts, this covert-action thriller features some surprises along the way, but touches down exactly where expected at the end. A KGB courier (in Beirut because his plane was hijacked) is waylaid by Iranian terrorists and deprived of a briefcase containing the schematics and operating instructions for America's radar-invisible B-2 advanced technology ``stealth bomber.'' While an Iranian intelligence officer, ironically schooled by the CIA, examines the briefcase and recognizes the implications of the find, the Soviets get word of their loss and initiate attempts to mine their source in America once more. The White House, suspecting a leak, calls in General Scott Cartwright, a Yeager-like, celebrity/ex-pilot/ex-astronaut, to join Air Force Major Adam Glassman in an investigation. As the Islamic agent prepares an elite unit of American-trained Iranian pilots for an insane raid on the California plant where the stealth bomber rests, the general discovers the major has suffered a trauma and is afraid to fly. While Merek is careful to portray the loyalties and conflicts motivating his characters' reckless intrigues, unfortunately, these are minor moments and stronger focus is given to the buildup to a typical dogfight-sky opera finish. (Feb.)