The Bear and the Dragon,  by Tom Clancy

Does anyone remember the old Allen Drury books?  He was noted for his political novels and I think most of them had a cast of characters listed in the front of the book.  It was great for memory-challenged people like me--if I forgot one of the characters I could look in the front of the book and the list would remind me with the name and a little description--Senator So and So from Missouri, alcoholic brother of the Attorney General, etc.  As I started Clancy's novel I longed for just such a list to refer to and I was tempted to make my own list because I didn't think I'd ever be able to keep track of all the characters--especially since so many of them have Chinese or Russian names.  (Now, who is Fang and who is Zhang??? Is it Golovko or Provalov who's the chairman of the SVR???)  But, don't despair.  As usual with a Clancy book, once you get into it the characters eventually all gel and you'll be able to keep them straight.  The time is the near future--say after the Gore administration (hope that little prediction doesn't come back to haunt me!)--and Jack Ryan, former CIA operative, former Vice President,  has just been elected President in his own right.  You'll remember that he moved up from Vice President to President in Executive Orders after a Japanese terrorist crashed a 747 into the Capitol and killed most of official Washington.  As you can discern from the title, Clancy's latest revolves around Russia and China.  Russia finally catches a break with the discovery of huge oil and gold deposits in Siberia.  China is on the brink of bankruptcy and decides to invade Russia in an attempt to seize the oil and gold fields.  So, Russia and China on the warpath and  Jack Ryan caught right in the middle.  And, thank goodness he is!  This is a huge book--over one thousand pages long--and I got a full upper body workout just reading it.  But, it was a great thriller with a wonderful mix of fantasy and realism.  Each of the large cast of characters is there to drive the story and Clancy is a master at bringing all the plot points together into a truly suspenseful climax--starring our very own Washington. DC.
 

Murder in Foggy Bottom, by Margaret Truman

It's been a number of years since I've read a Truman mystery or ordered one of her books for the Popular Collection.  Maybe a break helps because I enjoyed her latest.  Three commuter planes take off on the same day from three different parts of the country and all three are blown out of the sky by surface-to-air missiles.  About the same time, a Canadian diplomat is murdered in Foggy Bottom.  Washington Post reporter Joe Potamos is assigned to cover the murder.  At one time he was a rising star at the paper and wouldn't have been given this lowly assignment but Joe's in the doghouse after punching out one of his pompous fellow reporters.  The murder at first looks like a robbery gone bad but some things don't add up and Joe decides to dig deeper.  While Joe is investigating the homicide, Max Pauling, a former CIA agent working for the State Department, is trying to track down the buyer and seller of the missiles.  It soon becomes clear that there is a connection between the murder and the destruction of the planes.  And, there is one more missile that hasn't been fired. Yet.  Joe and Max must find the connection before it's too late.
 

Hot Springs, by Stephen Hunter

The time is 1946.  World War II is over and the soldiers are home.  Among them is Arkansan Earl Swagger, ex-Marine sergeant and Medal of Honor winner.  Earl fought in some of the deadliest battles of the war and he has both mental and physical scars.  Earl is resigned to going back to Arkansas to work in a factory but Fred C. Becker has other plans for him.  Becker is the newly elected prosecuting attorney of Hot Springs and he wants Earl to train and direct an elite group of men.  These men will be used by Becker to clean up the wild, corrupt town of Hot Springs--the Las Vegas of the East at that time.  Hot Springs is run by Owney Maddox, a powerful gangster from New York, and he controls all the illegal activities in town.  Maddox has plenty of money and hired guns and he will be a formidable, dangerous opponent.  This is a terrific book that interweaves a great fictional story with real events and characters--like Bugsy Siegel, who makes an appearance in Hot Springs on his way to creating the future Las Vegas.
 

Lethal Seduction, by Jackie Collins

Count on Jackie Collins to throw a fun party.  I'll do the introductions.  There's Maddy Castelli, a talented journalist--but her father may be a hitman for the Mob.  Jamie Nova, Maddy's best friend, has just found out her husband is bisexual.  Dexter Falcon, a television soap opera star, is married to Rosarita, a bimbo who's stepping out on Dexter with Joel Blaine, the playboy son of a billionaire.  Jake Sica, a dashing photographer, is dating Maddy but keeps disappearing.  Carrie Hanlon, a supermodel, may marry Joel's aging father to inherit his billions. And, finally, Kimm Florian, an American Indian lesbian private eye.  Most of these party animals end up in Las Vegas to attend a professional prize fight.  One of them hopes to commit murder and get away with it.  Like any great party, you'll have a good time with this and won't remember much the next day.
 

Riptide, by Catherine Coulter

Coulter is an author I've just started reading.  I enjoyed the first book I read, The Edge, and I think her latest is even better.  Becca Matlock is a speech writer for the governor of New York.  Well, she was his speech writer until she started getting threatening phone calls from a stalker telling her the governor will be killed unless she stops her affair with him.  She's not having an affair but she can't convince the caller, who is in love with her.  She can't convince the police, either, who think she is faking the calls.  Even a homeless person being blown up by the caller doesn't sway the police.  Finally, in desperation, Becca flees to the small Maine town of Riptide.  She hopes to hide out in secret but the stalker soon finds her and the phone calls begin again.  Luckily, she has a guardian angel in Adam Carruthers, who has been sent to help her by someone she has never known.  But, can he save her when she is kidnapped by the caller who has been menacing her?  Great suspense and some nice plot twists in this enjoyable page-turner.
 

Sick Puppy, by Carl Hiaasen

Carl Hiaasen is a Florida author and newspaper columnist who writes in the vein of Dave Barry or possibly a more humorous James W. Hall.  A recurring theme among these authors is the disappearance of old Florida--the relatively unspoiled Florida that existed before Walt Disney World et al moved in and triggered a tidal wave of development that is now drowning the state.  Twilly Spree is a wealthy twentysomething who has grown up watching Florida being paved over and it has left him somewhat mentally unbalanced.  He goes ape when he encounters anyone polluting or spoiling his Florida.  A chance encounter with a corrupt lobbyist and prime litterbug named Palmer Stoat tips Twilly off to a scheme  Palmer is involved in to develop an unspoiled plot of land called Toad Island.  In his attempt to save the island, Twilly will inadvertently kidnap Palmer's wife and dog, fall in love with both, and team up with former governor Clinton Tyree, a hermit environmentalist who is trying in his own warped way to save a little part of Florida before it's too late.  I've enjoyed all of Hiaasen's books--including this latest one--but I can't rank it as my favorite.  Maybe it was just a little too dark in tone and not quite what I expected from a Hiaasen book.  Still, worth reading all the same.
 
 

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Revised October 26, 2000

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