Pandora’s Temple: A Blaine McCracken Novel

At the start of Land’s over-the-top 11th Blaine McCracken thriller (1998’s Dead Simple), McCracken, the prototypical near-omnipotent operative, rescues four kidnapped American college students from a Mexican druglord’s HQ, aided by his usual gang of sidekicks, including the seven-foot-tall Native American Johnny Wareagle. Word that another amigo, Paul Basmajian, has vanished sets McCracken in search of his friend. Basmajian had been working on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico set to drill the deepest well ever, but he feared that the company’s true objective wasn’t related to finding oil. The fate of Basmajian and his 100-man crew turns out to be linked to the unleashing of an “all-powerful” force that threatens the entire world. The situation is not dire enough to prevent tired banter in the face of looming disaster, and an undersea encounter with a giant squid may generate some unintended laughs. (Nov.)