BIRD OF PREY

As Nolan Kilkenny, a Navy SEAL turned scientist, watches his fiancée, Kelsey Newton, launch into space to deploy a communications satellite, he thinks of the dangers he faced as a SEAL and the dangers she now faces as an astronaut and muses, "At least no one up in space is trying to kill you." He soon realizes how wrong he is, however, when a black ship carrying a high-powered laser takes aim at the satellite, then the shuttle itself. Kelsey makes it safely to the international space station, while Nolan tries to find out who is firing upon the satellites and why. His investigation takes him around the globe in an exciting cat-and-mouse chase with a Russian assassin and leads him to an enormous global corporation run by a ruthless woman willing to commit high-tech murder to stop her competitors. The narrative cuts quickly from place to place, culminating in a tense showdown at sea. Grace's prose recalls Ian Fleming at his most lean, and although the focus is on the ticking time bomb in orbit, Grace (Twisted Web , etc.) throws in a wealth of technical details and gadgetry to satisfy techno-thriller aficionados. This is a complex story with an enormous cast of characters, but Grace keeps the plot clean and streamlined, making this a brisk, enjoyable read. (Mar.)