The Killing Winds

Francis's latest thriller (after Night Sky ) invokes the specter of environmental pollution. In a leisurely plot that takes some time to catch fire but eventually keeps the reader riveted to the page, an earnest young British lawyer, Daisy Field, who works for a group that campaigns against toxic chemicals, learns how far a greedy U.S. company is willing to go to prevent her from exposing the nasty side-effects (leading to a lingering, painful death) of their profitable agrochemical, Silveron. One of the pesticide's victims is the wife of rock star Nick MacKenzie; he later funds a lab Daisy has set up to gather information on Silveron, but their tentative romance is dashed when Daisy seems to have erred in her research and when politically correct Nick discovers that she is using animals as research subjects. Meanwhile, the suspense grows as Daisy comes under increasing danger from a smarmy thug employed by the ruthless company. This contemporary twist on the little guy triumphing over larger, wealthier evildoers is a bit overlong, but Francis develops her plot expertly and brings the characters together for a bravura finish. (Sept.)