Stalk

Ex-CIA man Barney McLean returns to his coastal California home one night to find that Angie Simmons, his girlfriend of two years, and her young son have vanished. In their place are two hoods, asking for Angie--violently. McLean kills both in self-defense and sets out to locate his beloved. But McLean must proceed with caution: he has been in hiding, imperiled by a CIA rogue who wants to avenge the supposed suicide of a third agent whose illicit activities McLean had exposed. Fleeing east, he discovers that reticent high school librarian Angie has been in hiding, too--she's actually Angela Marchetti, participant in a federal witness protection program where she took refuge after testifying against the Mafia drug ring led by her husband, the Harvard-educated son of a Philadelphia capo. There isn't much mystery here, as we know that some CIA guys are after McLean and Angie's husband is after his wife and son, but Charbonneau ( The Ice ) supplies believable characters and action aplenty. McLean, dodging bullets and baseball bats right up to the bloody climax, stays on his toes--and keeps readers on theirs as well. Reader's Digest Condensed Book selection. (June)