The Devil's Garden - Hardcover

Peters, Ralph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380973626 ISBN 13: 9780380973620

Publisher: Avon Books, 1998

Synopsis

When Kelly Trost, the rebellious daughter of a powerful U.S. senator, vanishes, Lt. Colonel Evan Burton ventures into the heart of a chaotic, lawless country on the border between Europe and Asia, in the hope of rescuing the young woman, who has become a bargaining point in a dangerous and deadly global power struggle

About this title

About the Author

Ralph Peters is the New York Times best-selling author of The War in 2020, Flames of Heaven, and Bravo Romeo. He lives in Washington, D.C. and is currently at work on his next thriller.

Reviews

The balance of power in hapless Azerbaijan hinges on the fate of a kidnapped young woman--one Kelly Trost, snatched from her humanitarian wanderings by someone who killed her interpreter and all nearby witnesses. Despite this brutality, nobody would care about Kelly if she weren't the daughter of Senator Mitchell Trost, who has the power to block an oil pipeline scheduled to snake through Azerbaijan--and whom the Sons of Salvation, who claim responsibility for the kidnapping, consider the spawn of Satan. In truth, Mitch Trost doesn't wield nearly the power to appease the Sons by making the US sever diplomatic ties with Israel and fire all Jewish Americans in government posts. But his shadow is long enough to get action from the deceptively colorless US ambassador; from the Deputy Chief of Mission, Arthur Vandergraaf; from well-connected Oak Leaf Oil executive Dick Fleming; and from Lt. Col. Evan Burton, the temporary military representative in Baku. The trouble is that except Burton, a vintage steely-eyed Peters hero, the rest of the double-talking cast have agendas of their own--agendas that don't necessarily involve the freeing of Kelly Trost. The Azeris want the local Russian strongman blamed for her kidnapping; the silver-tongued diplomats and oilmen are wangling over which countries that pipeline should traverse; and even Burton's lover, Hedwig Seghers, is ready to betray her second-most-important allegiance, to her fianc‚e the German ambassador, to her first, which isn't Burton. When Burton goes hunting for Kelly, he finds that her abductors, whoever they are, can't hold on to her, or even save their own skins; and with every new twist on the original snatch, Peters (A Perfect Soldier, 1995, etc.) raises the stakes further. Long before the furious climax, a lot more than an oil pipeline has come to depend on the fate of Kelly Trost. Peters manages to be both rousing (definite summer movie possibilities here) and deeply disturbing. His portrait of the snakes mapping out current East-West diplomacy may make you long for the verities of the Cold War. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Peters, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, is the author of Twilight of Heroes (1997), Red Army (1989), and two other political thrillers. In The Devil's Garden, the daughter of a powerful U.S. senator has come to a Third World country to help the Muslim refugees who live in dire poverty--"to save the world on her summer vacation." She is kidnapped and taken to the capital of Azerbaijan. An American, one Lieutenant Colonel Evan Burton, is sent to find her. Peters weaves into the plot global politics such as Islamic fundamentalism, Israeli policies, and the region's attitude toward the U.S. His good guys are so very good, his bad guys rotten to the core, and we know from the start that the brave colonel will save the damsel in distress. But never mind, Peters offers readers the thrill ride of their lives all the way. George Cohen

An American aid worker is kidnapped from a refugee camp in Azerbaijan. Since she is a senator's daughter, many forces with different agendas converge. Lt. Col. Evan Burton, assigned to the embassy in Baku, starts searching for the girl and discovers that there is more at stake than his, or her, life. Among the more enchanting characters are an Azeri general who betrays everyone but his own conscience, a warlord and heroin producer, a beautiful German spy, an honorable American ambassador, and the most revolting collection of Big Oil and diplomatic elite scum ever assembled. In the end, the kidnapping is trivial compared with a billion dollars of oil, but Burton has principles. Peters, a U.S. Army officer and author of seven geopolitical thrillers (e.g., Flames of Heaven, LJ 4/1/93) has an eye for the grubby realities of life in the Third World, and his portraits of desperate men pushed by events beyond their cognizance are more convincing than one finds in most thrillers.
-?Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Avon Books
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0380973626
• ISBN 13: 9780380973620
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 370