Day of Wrath

A by-the-numbers affair about a terrorist nuclear attack on the U.S., Bond's lackluster latest begins when FBI agent Helen Gray and U.S. Army colonel Peter Thorn arrive in Russia to investigate the mysterious crash of a Russian cargo plane that happened to be carrying a team of American arms inspectors. The local authorities try to make the crash look like an accident, but their thinly veiled attempts at deception fail to convince Gray and Thorn, who quickly find evidence of a hidden shipment of nuclear missiles and embark on a hunt that takes the duo across Europe, where they are betrayed by a high-level FBI mole, and eventually leads them home--to Washington, D.C., where a corrupt Arab prince is masterminding plans for a lethal warhead launch. An engaging, adventurous romantic couple, Thorn and Gray have a flair for high-risk solutions that pushes the pace in the second half of the book. But Bond spends far too much time in the first half following the missiles on their labyrinthine journey, and there's nothing terribly innovative or exciting in that part of the narrative or any of the subsequent plot twists. Readers who enjoyed the high-stakes hijinks of Gray and Thorn in The Enemy Within may find their curiosity piqued, but there's little in this tale to separate Bond's fifth novel from the flotsam and jetsam of the genre. (June)