FLASH POINT

by Richard Aellen ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1991

A timely premise--an American mom goes after the Muslim fanatic who killed her three children--gets lively but crude treatment by the author of the much smoother and sharper Redeye (1988). Katherine Cahill is the rich, divorced Connecticut housewife who vows revenger after Islamic terrorist-messiah Imad Tayib orders the bombing of an airplane that happens to be carrying her three kids. Despairing of official retribution, Katherine arranges for the modification of her Mont Blanc pen into a gun; then, to gain access to Tayib, she persuades Donna Winn, wife of kidnapped oilman Mike Winn, to fly to Syria with her to ransom Mike from Tayib, who claims to be holding him hostage. Also traveling with Katherine is photographer Sans Gaddis, who once met Tayib and who acts as guide in exchange for rights to Donna's story. Unkown to the trio, however, the US plans a Delta Force strike to kidnap Tayib, and Mike Winn was snatched not by Tayib but by an illicit-arms dealer in response to Mike's blackmail. This promising scenario begins to tangle up after the trio arrives in Syria. Sam and Donna side-trip into a subplot--involving Mike's secret Bedouin wife--seemingly inserted mostly to allow Aellen to exploit customs and scenery; in arbitrary plot developments, Katherine is recruited by the CIA for its strike, and the CIA's man in Syria is fingered in Mike's kidnapping; All this plot knotting, however, is just embroidery for the story's lurid centerpiece: the trio's extended battle with the monstrous Tayib and his filthy, lustful, sadistic Arab hordes, who gleefully molest, torture, and murder until a final, gory turnaround. Shamelessly anti-Arab, awash in crass stereotype, and only moderately suspenseful; but will Aellen's rousing xenophobia strike a popular chord given current Middle Eastern events?

Pub Date: May 15, 1991

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Donald Fine

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1991

Categories: FICTION