The Omicron Legion

Land ( The Valhalla Testament ) launches a new cold war, this time with the Far East, in this fast-paced tale of revenge engineered by the Japanese heirs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Secret agent Blaine McCracken is called upon to uncover why a former American research compound in the middle of the Amazon jungle has been destroyed and how it was connected to a diabolical plot to assassinate 96 prominent U.S. citizens. McCracken, along with his comrades Johnny Wareagle and Patty Hunsecker, encounter 13 robotlike ``disciples'' that are part of the Omicron Legion trained to viciously avenge the deaths of the Japanese when the atom bomb was dropped. Eventually he learns that what started out as a Japanese scheme to ruin the U.S. economy has turned into an even higher-stakes battle, complete with plans for widespread destruction through the meltdown of America's nuclear power plants. Mind control, robotics, kidnapping and gruesome murders are some of the complex games facing McCracken and his cohorts as they travel from the Amazon to Washington, Rio and Japan in this first-rate suspense thriller. (June)