Shy Moon

Set in the Middle East, this competently written thriller is both topical and entertaining. Simon Wright, a dam-builder and ecologist with a U.N. organization, is living in Jordan. Separated from his wife in the States, Wright's solitary existence is disrupted by Pamela St. Martin, the wife of an American businessman involved in building the Trans-Jordanian Pipeline. St. Martin's first husband, a Jordanian doctor, has taken their young daughter to live in a small, desert town. Awarded legal custody of the girl, St. Martin asks for Wright's help in finding her, thus drawing the lonely ecologist into the intrigue. Told in tight, sometimes lyrical prose, the novel is distinguished by Roberts's ( The Heart of the Dog ) convincing evocation of the desert and its ecology, politics, customs and culture. The story's resolution, if a bit pat, is spectacular. (Aug.)