Hot Siberian

The premise of this entertaining suspense novel from the author of Stone 588 is that South Africa has lost control of the production side of the diamond industry while retaining its grip on marketing the precious gems. Meanwhile, a tremendous diamond lode has been discovered in Siberia, and the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Trade has formed a secret production-marketing venture with their South African counterparts. But someone in the Soviet Union is stealing the diamonds and selling them on the world market, jeopardizing the international cartel known as the System, and portending a worldwide crash. Enter Soviet export-trade specialist Nicolai Borodin and his wildly improvident English girlfriend Vivian. Discovering the ingenious scheme by which the diamonds are being diverted, Nicolai steals a shipment from the thieves, but they catch on to him and begin a pursuit that sends Nicolai and Vivian ricocheting around Europe. Tautly written and absorbing, the thriller bears comparison with Gorky Park , which it closely resembles in mood and topical matter. And it's a noteworthy contribution to the subgenre of thrillers in which the heroes are Russians and some of the bad guys Westerners. (Jan.)