Hard Rain

In Washington, D.C., the wife of a senator from Vermont, venerable leader of a intelligence committee, flunks a pro forma lie-detector test. In L.A., Jessie Shapiro's former husband doesn't return with their 10-year-old daughter after a weekend trip. From these starting points, Abrahams (The Fury of Rachel Monette) weaves an intricate, convincing thriller that reaches back to the smoke-laden days of Woodstock, to the jungles of postwar Vietnam and the highest offices of Soviet and American intelligence. After escaping from kidnappers who lure her with information about her little girl, Jessie flies to Vermont where her ex-husband and daughter have been seen. She traces her ex to his old college town and calls on the last survivors of his former commune. The senator's wife, followed by an almost over-the-hill secret agent, is also in town for a ceremony commemorating her only son who died in Vietnam. Jessie and the senator's wife soon cross paths, precipitating an alliance with the agent that will change several lives as their investigations reach an explosive end. Abrahams peoples his intricate plot with vivid, sympathetic characters and places them against a background of '60s music, drugs and subverted ideals to come up with a sure-fire winner, especially for those who recognize the title. (January 11)