It's the near future, and Batu Khan, a charismatic and ruthless dictator emulating the tactics and exploits of Genghis Khan, has forged an alliance of central Asian countries that threatens to destabilize the world's balance of power. Meanwhile, a series of seemingly unconnected acts of violence are committed by ordinary people with suddenly superhuman abilities, abilities similar to those exhibited by the Khaldun, Batu Khan's elite soldiers. Matt Wilder, a special investigator for Air Force Intelligence, has firsthand experience with the Khaldun, who have infiltrated the military's top secret testing sites and stolen plans for the air force's newest planes and weapons. When he focuses on what the media dubs the Yuppie Killers, he discovers the one thing they all have in common: a connection with a chemistry professor at Rexford University, and a long-ago experiment with LSD whose effects, 30 years later, are just like those shown by Batu Khan's soldiers.
This page-turner, which spans the globe from the Asian steppes to the Australian desert, features enough hardware to satisfy Tom Clancy fans and plenty of medical science to intrigue Robin Cook's readers. Ross LaManna's Hollywood background (he wrote the screenplay for Jackie Chan's Rush Hour) shows up in the intricate, cinematic plotting--and in the bigger-than-life characterizations of the key players, including the American president, whose own acid flashback almost puts America right in Batu Khan's hands. Explosive, exciting, and hard to put down, Acid Test practically screams Big Screen. --Jane Adams
