THE CAPITOL GAME

The invention of a chemical compound that makes military-combat vehicles invincible sparks a nasty fight between corporate and government types for control of the miracle substance.

Haig, who has scored with bestselling novels about Army JAG lawyer Major Sean Drummond (Man in the Middle, 2007, etc.), introduces Jack Wiley, a decorated veteran of the first Gulf War who has become a high-rolling Wall Street pro. When Jack learns a struggling company has developed an amazing polymer that not only makes a Humvee invulnerable to attacks but weaponizes it—an invention that will dramatically benefit U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan while creating billions in profits back home—he plots to take over the outfit. To get the money he needs for the takeover, he muscles his way to a controlling interest of the powerful, deep-pocketed Capitol Group, whose dysfunctional leadership is vulnerable to his hardball tactics. But his path to a bloodless takeover of the chemical company becomes tangled when the Pentagon, in the form of Special Agent Mia Jenson, gets a whiff of his maneuvering and pursues its own urgent agenda. Haig, son of former Secretary of State Alexander Haig, is good at putting the narrative pieces in place and orchestrating them. But for all the fraud, spying, blackmail, dirty tricks and character assassination, the book boasts too much setup, and talk, and too little payoff in terms of suspense and satisfying plot turns. Jack is an attractive character with some of the taciturn appeal of Lee Child's Jack Reacher, but he isn't especially charismatic or compelling. Mia is cut from cardboard, and the secondary characters are largely indistinguishable.

A good premise squandered by so-so storytelling.