THE NINTH CIRCLE

by N.J. Crisp ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 1988

The author of In The Long Run, Yesterday's Gone, and The Brink brings back iron curtain escape-specialist Stephen Haden, who is called upon to locate and rescue a Russian ÉmigrÉ who seems to have been snatched back home. The approach is made by the very attractive wife of the missing Alexander Baronin. Nudged in Haden's direction by one of Haden's old loves, herself an American spy, Madame Baronin, backed by a filthy rich American political mover, seems to have plenty of money to back up her request for help. Haden takes the job and starts the search in London, inquiring discreetly of his old pals in the spy trade. But just as the inquiries begin to bear fruit, one of Haden's sources is the victim of a torture-murder. Haden thinks the man was murdered for his knowledge of someone or something code-named Dante--which may or may not have something to do with the disappearance of Alexander Baronin. Hader believes he has the clue somewhere in the dead man's copy of The Inferno--if he could just figure out what the clue might be. Bailing out of dangerous London, Haden motors into Austria, lodging at an awfully swell spa outside Vienna, the last place anybody saw Baronin alive. With just a few phone calls, Haden has American and Russian spooks scrambling through the scenery and begins to get a line not only on Mr. Baronin, but on the mysterious Dante, information for which Mrs. Baronin's wealthy sponsor will pay top dollar. It's also information that may prove fatal to Haden. . . Good, workmanlike thriller, most of it believable.

Pub Date: Aug. 1, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1988

Categories: FICTION