Ultimatum

Though not usually the darling of the techno-thriller set (his clone is dissed mightily in Dale Brown's upcoming Storming Heaven, for example), Bill Clinton should be dancing in the Oval Office when he hears about this first hardcover novel from Pineiro (Siege of Lightning). Time and again, the Chief Executive is shown acting sensibly, decisively and with prayer in his heart as he works to prevent the resumption of the Mother of All Wars, this time around against a Saddam Hussein equipped with nuclear weapons acquired from a disintegrated Soviet Union. Aiding Clinton are a canny CIA operative, several talented and independent-minded pilots and a number of courageous Kurdish guerrillas, all engaging in an exciting and plausible series of skirmishes, dogfights and chases against Saddam's forces. Just enough sex and romance, plus lots of flying and shooting but not too much techno-jargon, make this a crowd-pleasing yarn. To his credit, Pineiro doesn't play down the ugly consequences of combat: the accidents, the wounds, the fears are tellingly laid out. In addition, the cast is not only multiracial but includes women of courage and conscience-a nice bonus in what adds up to a first-rate contribution to the genre. (Sept.)