Destroy the Kentucky: Destroy the Kentucky

With the setting alternating between an underwater sub and the vast Kara Kum desert, Davis's ( Raise the Red Dawn ) new military novel is a winner in which people, not gadgetry, are paramount and adventure is delivered at satisfying clip. Turkmenistan, a Soviet republic, backs its bid for independence with some serious fire power: its agents steal the USS Kentucky, a new small, fast submarine armed with four cruise missiles. Sending the Kentucky to sea with two missiles, the separatists hide the other two in the Kara Kum desert. While the Soviets have a new sonar system that might be able to locate the deep-diving sub, only the Americans have the full scoop on the Kentucky, so they pool their resources: Capt. Peter MacKenzie of the U.S. Navy takes a Soviet sub out to destroy the Kentucky , but the mission only will be accomplished if he can convince his slack Soviet crew to stop thinking of him as the enemy and pull together as a team. Meanwhile Justine, Peter's wife and an experienced and deadly CIA agent, joins with a Soviet general and the chief of a desert tribe to find the two hidden missiles. Each member of this unusual trio distrusts the others--and with good cause. (Feb.)