BUTCHER BIRD
by Dean Ing
High-tech thriller—sequel to the paperbacks The Ransom of Black Stealth One and The Nemesis Mission—featuring deadly, whisper-quiet, virtually undetectable UFO-like Stealth aircraft. Here, the French scientist and aircraft expert Roland Clement has invented a tiny robot plane, equipped with killer lasers, capable of seeking out and assassinating any previously identified target; he has sold his services to the Syrians, who call his plane a ``djinni'' and regard it with superstitious dread. Having perfected the device, Clement decides to make lots of money by selling his service to Colombian drug barons. For his first contract, he smuggles into the USA a nuclear-powered djinni fitted with a powerful UV laser. Fortunately, the NSA and researcher Ben Ullmer are aware of the djinni. By sheer luck, Clement runs into one of the NSA's operatives. But how to stop Clement, or even identify his targets? A cat-and-mouse game develops while the NSA try to catch up with the elusive Clement—still backed by his bemused Syrian sponsors—and the megalomaniac Clement grows ever more unpredictable and dangerous. Credible and entertaining, especially for fans of the previous books, and a definite improvement over The Big Lifters (1988).