HUNTER KILLER

Talk about "ripped from the headlines": bestseller Robinson's latest international political thriller (after 2004's Scimitar SL-2 ) reads like the evening news on speed. In 2009, Saudi Arabia's Prince Nasir plans to overthrow his country's royal family—a popular target, especially since Farenheit 9/11 —with the French government's help. In order to make the coup d'état appear an exclusively Arab job, the French hire a Moroccan, Col. Jacques Gamoudi (aka Le Chasseur or the Hunter), to lead the operation. Joining Gamoudi is a notorious Hamas terrorist (the killer of the title). Foreseeing all that Saudi oil flowing away from American gas stations, U.S. Adm. Arnold Morgan has to find a way to stop the coup without making the French hate us more than they already do. If the surfeit of military detail tends to slow the action, the main characters come across as real people caught up in a frightening scenario—one that's perhaps a bit too close to reality to make this novel completely comfortable as escapist fiction. Agent, Ed Victor (U.K.). (May 1)