Siberian Light

Like Donald James's Monstrum (Forecasts, June 30), White's atmospheric but cluttered new thriller (after The Last High Ground, 1995) makes the most of a latter-day Russian setting as it depicts a desperate official's pursuit of a wanton killer. Here, the crisply depicted landscape isn't Moscow but Siberia, where Gregori Nowek, mayor of Morkovo and a rare man of honor in a ragged town ruled by mafiyas and corrupt politicians, vows to find whoever sliced dead not only a local fat cat but also the two militia men who discovered his body. A patch of orange cloth found near the bodies points to AmerRus, an American company allegedly working nearby oil deposits. But Nowek's visit to the company's fields, and an animal bone also found at the crime scene, indicate that AmerRus may be interested not in oil but tigers, worth a fortune on the black market. The further Nowek digs, the deeper he steps into trouble as those profiting from AmerRus's real reason for being in Siberia aim to foil him, fatally if necessary. His personal troubles also mount, as he falls for the female scientist framed as the chief murder suspect, and as his wayward teenaged daughter is kidnapped and sexually tortured by an AmerRus employee. Outlandish plot turns like those, and the predictable action sequences that cap the narrative, undermine White's strong evocations of place and person--the novel bulges with characters who scrape the mind like sandpaper; but even so, readers will remember his bold portrait of Russia as a Byron of a land, beautiful but mad, bad and dangerous to know. $150,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Sept.)