THE KINGFISHER’S CALL

Love and honor survive the CIA, the FBI, the White House, and a threatened coup in China, lending warmth to a conventional thriller by the author of .

Nightmares of his young sister’s death haunt Tuck Nyland. As a child, he watched helplessly as she fled a gang of toughs, then fell to her death from a cliff. Years later, guilt-ridden Tuck has become a CIA agent so mean and agile he can ride a motorcycle and tear off the ear of a man driving a car in the lane next to his. The past also shadows Tuck’s boss, 60ish Jon Cross. Posted to Burma after WWII, Cross fell in love with Bao Qing, the daughter of a Chinese diplomat. Their love forbidden, they parted after two weeks. Now, 40 years later, Bao, a mole in Chinese intelligence, fears an incipient coup will blow her cover and lead to execution. Cross wants Nyland to bring her out to safety. `Do you believe in love?` asks Cross, who obviously longs to see Bao again. Waiting in China to help Tuck with the mission and also to answer Cross’ question about love is agent Anne Hammersmith, who throws a mean kick and lands a punch where it hurts most. Aware that his plans to overthrow the government will collapse if Bao gets away, Chinese General Xing Wanpo speeds after her, Tuck, and Hammersmith. With Xing is agent Song Zhenyo, who is linked to a highly placed White House spy. Back at Langley, CIA deputy director Robert Jaynes goes after Cross and Nyland, suspecting they’re double agents about to defect. Second-novelist Reed (Thirteen Mountain, not reviewed) brings everyone together on the Burma Road for a climactic, violent chase by foot, plane, boat, and train.

Muscular and intricate, but marred by some facile plot turns and a too tidy wrap-up.