STINGER

It is the mid-eighties and the Red Army is encountering fierce resistance in Afghanistan. The action is also heating up in the dusty border town of Peshawar, Pakistan, where we meet Nick Daley, the unorthodox CIA officer from The Company She Keeps. The intrigue begins with the disappearance of the first shipment of American Stingers — the shoulder-fired missiles that threaten Soviet might — and then deepens with a mysterious graveyard murder.

The arrival of investigative journalist Robin Reeves stirs things up further. Gradually an unusual love story will unfold, a triangle involving Nick, Robin and her former Berkeley lover, Jamal, now a charismatic mujahideen chief — a man with many enemies.

Nick and Robin are both seeking to find the elusive rebel leader when their paths cross. These characters lead us into a world of danger, a world of spy versus spy, where no one is what he or she seems. Where hidden agendas provide their own kind of veil… until the mystery is resolved in a shattering climax.

From the last battlefield of the cold war to the tribal no-man’s land of the war on terror, Stinger sets the stage for today’s headlines. The novel will keep you up at night — and keep you wondering.

Aventine Press; $13.95 ISBN 1-59330-377-7