Circle William

Retired navy officer and ex-CIA man Harlow crafts a clever, well-plotted debut about two high-placed, competitive brothers whose complementary talents foil a Libyan attempt at germ warfare. Older brother Jim Schmidt happens to be White House press secretary, while his younger sibling, Bill, is captain of the U.S.S. Winston Churchill; their lives don't intersect as much as run parallel in alternating chapters. The Churchill and its crew have a cowboy reputation that is amply displayed in the opening chapters, so amply, in fact, that the reader might wonder whether all those hijacks have a point to them. When U.S. intelligence discovers that the Libyans are plotting a germ warfare strike on Israel, the news can't be released without prompting General Ghadafi to order another strike with a weapon that's already been smuggled into the country. This means that any attempt to stop a preemptive Israeli attack has to look like an accident--and thanks to a beautiful and determined reporter from the Washington Post, Sue O'Dell, Bill Schmidt and the Winston Churchill receive front-page press as an accident waiting to happen. Harlow expertly sets up the perfect ruse for an ""accidental"" shootdown of a Libyan jet (the title refers to a shipboard defense against radiation and chemical-weapons attack), while Jim's official involvement keeps the reader apprised of backstage maneuverings. Subsequent naval scenes vie with the White House settings for authenticity; there's an especially entertaining sequence about a media flap that occurs because somebody says the truth aloud. The plot takes several interesting turns before racing to a suspenseful climax. Despite characterization that some may consider naive(e.g., that there might actually be a reporter patriotic enough to put her country's best interests ahead of a story), Harlow offers a chipper, spirited first effort that augurs well for a new career. Agent, Sloan Harris. (Feb.)