RED ZONE

McTeer recounts the adventures and misadventures of adrenaline-junkie pilot Alan Richards and his co-pilot Mario Rodriguez after a crash-landing in the Venezuelan jungle plunges them into a world of misery and pain in this interesting but uneven debut. The cover declares the book "a novel based on a true story," which is exactly how it reads—like a late-night tale recounted over beers in some smoky, Third World bar. After flames onboard force their plane down in the Red Zone—designated a no-fly area because of rampant drug smuggling—Alan and Mario are picked up by the Venezuelan police, and trouble begins in earnest. They're shuttled from prison to prison, beaten, tortured, cheated by crooked lawyers and brushed off by unhelpful embassies. When the duo eventually make it out of prison, it's only to fall into the hands of Jota, a smuggler bent on forcing Alan to fly drug runs for the Colombian cartel. On the ground, the story decelerates among the heroes' minutely catalogued trials, and McTeer's prose doesn't really take off until he climbs into the cockpit and hauls the reader into the air, where the riveting action comes nonstop. When Alan makes it home, he still has to free himself from the clutches of the drug smugglers and wiggle his way back into the arms of his girlfriend, who has pretty much given up on him. McTeer leaves a few loose ends dangling, so perhaps Alan Richards will fly again. (Oct. 1)