Eagles Die Too

Rochester, N.Y., reporter Jessica James returns (after Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow ) in this disappointing tale, which centers mostly on her personal life. After flunking a course for executive bodyguards, which she took in order to research an article, Jess meets--and is attracted to--pilot Mac Devlin, one of the instructors, at a bar and overhears an argument he has with Sam Garner, another pilot, over an unnamed woman. Distressed to learn that her sometime lover, mobster Marcus Andrelli, is in Europe with his ex-wife and son, Jess takes up Mac's offer to teach her to fly. Then her mother, Kate, visits with her new husband, Charlie, whom Jess thinks is a crook. Mac, Sam, Kate and Charlie hold a clandestine meeting at one of Marcus's properties, but they refuse to tell Jess what is going on. O'Brien manages to bring these disparate parts of her plot together, but Jess's reliance on Marcus's right-hand man Tark for information will disappoint fans who expect this feisty heroine to take charge of situations by herself. (Aug.)