FLEE THE NIGHT

In this first installment of a three-book series featuring a search and rescue team, shaky writing undermines a promising premise. After years of aliases, international spy Lacey Galloway Montgomery holds the key to a return to personal stability in the Ex-6 encryption/decryption program she's developed. Lacey hopes it will revolutionize the National Security Agency and rehabilitate her reputation as a traitor who allegedly murdered her husband, John. The beautiful, widowed MIT Ph.D.'s heart, however, has always belonged to Jim Micah, the "Iceman," John's best high school buddy. Micah is about to come into her life again, along with his search and rescue team, to help recover Lacey's kidnapped daughter and deliver the Ex-6 safely into patriotic hands. However, Micah has his own set of problems, including keeping the torch he's always carried for Lacey hidden ("she'd gotten under his skin. Like a virus. Or an old football injury"). Reflects Micah: "A smart man would expunge her the second she started tunneling through the soft tissue of his emotions." The idea of a search and rescue team is intriguing, but the novel's pacing is slowed by characters' repetitive self-reflection, theology discussions and flashbacks to high school life. And the rich, specific details of Warren's scenes come at the price of occasional overwriting. (Mar.)