The Prisoner of Guantnamo

Veteran foreign correspondent Fesperman taps another timely issue in his fourth topical thriller, zeroing in on the secretive U.S.-operated prison camp for possible terrorists at Guantánamo Bay. The action follows the downfall of translator Revere Falk, an FBI interrogator whose Arabic language skills have put him in high demand and, unfortunately, directly in the line of fire between competing political forces. Falk has been focusing on a Yemeni prisoner with murky links to al-Qaeda, but his questioning sessions get interrupted when the body of an American soldier washes ashore in nearby Cuban territory. Falk is assigned to the investigation, but it quickly becomes apparent that base commanders as well as military higher-ups in Washington, D.C., simply want a quick whitewash job. Falk, however, has already asked too many nosy questions and finds himself cast as a possible scapegoat for a variety of other misdeeds at Gitmo. Despite an occasionally confusing plot and a finale with little punch, Fesperman (The Warlord's Son ) does a superb job of explaining the inner workings at Guantánamo, as well as the context for the public outcry about the base. (July)