Bloodthirsty killer Emil Grass abducts teen Tracy Collins from an Eden Highlands, Calif., pizza parlor, after shooting dead a high school friend of hers, at the start of this far-fetched thriller from Levinson (In the Key of Death
). Jack Sothern, a world-weary journalist, recognizes a link between Tracy’s kidnapping and Tracy’s mother, Maggie, who may be privy to the secrets contained in the missing diary of the late Erich Mielke, the notorious head of East Germany’s Ministry of State Security. Years earlier, Maggie was married to Dan Boone, a controversial American entertainer who became known as “the turncoat rebel” after he defected to the U.S.S.R. When Dan tried to return to the U.S. in 1987, he was apparently murdered in East Germany. Tracy’s harrowing experience as Emil’s hostage is the high point of a tale hampered by less than credible characters, notably the over-the-top villain and a mysterious femme fatale who manipulated Jack and broke his heart during the cold war era. (Feb.)
