Death Of A Marionette (signed)

The author of The Power and The Glass Inferno follows a blue-collar Vietnam veteran turned U.S. secret agent who must find an aged puppeteer in time to prevent a killing spree.

Neal Morley, the protagonist of this gritty, claustrophobic thriller, is a Vietnam vet and operative for a U.S. government agency known as "the Bureau." He is sent to Brussels from London to interview over-the-hill puppeteer Serge Cailleau, who has smuggled six, perhaps seven, terrorists into Belgium to attack an upcoming European Union meeting. When the puppeteer is killed during a performance, Morley's only lead is Bernadette, the woman who played one of Cailleau's life-sized marionettes. But Morley isn't the man he was six months ago, when he suffered a near-fatal beating while breaking up a drug ring. He's slower, warier, jumpier and conscious of his weaknesses and of his mistakes. Moreover, neither the Bureau nor the local police are sure he can handle the job, particularly since they know that he has his own personal agenda?to find the paymaster behind the drug ring, a man whom everyone maintains does not exist. Morley's road to revenge is paved with betrayals, botched interrogations, an uneasy comradeship with his Soviet counterpart and violence born of fear and frustration. Yet thanks to sharp, evocative writing, his story remains, at heart, a tale of character?of Morley's moral confusion. The obligatory romance is handled with skill, the final twist isn't gratuitous, and it all adds up to one tough spy thriller.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Robinson (The Glass Inferno, LJ 7/74) teams with Hull in this fast-paced spy thriller. Morley is an aging Vietnam vet turned U.S. agent. After recuperating from a nearly fatal attack during a drug bust in Brussels, he responds to a call for help from Cailleau, an old puppeteer who smuggles refugees through Belgium. Cailleau believes that his latest group are terrorists on the lam. Soon, the puppeteer is murdered. At the scene, Morley meets Hannie, who has been like a daughter to Cailleau, and Taca, a bystander. Both are, in fact, agents sent to back him up. Or are they? When Hannie disappears, Morley risks all to find her-even though he realizes that she is the bait to lure him into the hands of the terrorists-and soon discovers that he is the puppet. All in all, this is a good read that offers an interesting glimpse into the character of a Vietnam vet. Recommended for public libraries.
Stacie Browne Chandler, Whitman P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.