Just When We Are Safest

Interagency rivalries thwart antiterrorist investigations in this jumbled post-Cold War thriller set in contemporary London. Custom & Excise investigator Alan Rosslyn's policewoman fiancee is about to join MI5 intelligence when she stumbles upon a terrorist bombing attempt and is gunned down by a putative IRA assassin. Rosslyn, who has recently apprehended another IRA operative stockpiling dangerous explosives, joins the task force investigating this latest terrorism. Soon two MI5 agents are blown up in a related murder, and back-stabbing among the nominally cooperating services escalates. As Rosslyn digs deeper into the mystery and begins to suspect collaboration between this deadly bomber and ranking government agents, he becomes a target himself. While Gadney's (Nightshade) plot-driven narrative seeks to vilify the dangerous confusion of competing intelligence agencies, the result is even more confusing for the reader. None of these characters emerges as particularly memorable or convincing, episodes of climactic action are difficult to follow and clever plot twists are all but lost in the obscurity. (May)