State of Emergency

Packed with plots and subplots, this powerful, fast-moving thriller doesn't give readers time to doubt some of its implausible elements. Englishwoman Sarah Dalton wants to know if and why her sister Wendy killed herself. She's in the U.S. to study journalism, but she's further distracted by the near-murder of a Vietnamese friend who secretly met with her foster fathera deserter who had performed Nazi-like experiments in Saigon. Her faculty adviser, reporter Joe McKeon, helps her investigate Wendy's death until he's jailed and accused of killing the deserter. Sarah's benefactor at Columbia J-school, David Stoneham, a wealthy publisher who knew Wendy, may know the truth. But what does Wendy's death have to do with Irish terrorists? With a presidential race? With a state of emergency? Sherlock has taken extremely disparate people and events and woven them into a blistering yarn. (Nov.)