The Harbinger Effect

When Soviet photo-journalist Yuri Klebanoff seeks asylum in the American Embassy in West Africa, his defection initiates a race against time as U.S. and Soviet agents uncover evidence of military intervention in West Africa

Wolf follows Long Chain of Death with a suspenseful, tightly paced, yet often unbelievable thriller. At the center of this rousing spy story are three resourceful women, civilians all, who manage to foil an assortment of highly trained, deadly intelligence operatives. The chase begins in West Africa when Molly Davison, an American working for a relief organization, is reluctantly drawn into smuggling a Russian defector out of the American Embassy and onto a plane bound for Rome. The man requesting political asylum is Yuri Klebanoff, a photographer from a family of high-ranking Soviet officals. Yuri carries photos that implicate Russia and the U.S. in covert military maneuvers to fan the flames of a West African revolution. When bodies start accumulating around them, Molly and Yuri hide out in the Greek isles, then push on to Canada; there Yuri is captured, and Molly joins forces with the intrepid wife of a murdered CIA operative and her tempestuous sister. Their attempt to free Yuri is high--albeit unintentionally hilarious--drama. BOMC alternate; Mysterious Book Club main selection.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Idealistic Molly Davison, newly arrived in West Africa to work on a people-to-people project, is suddenly thrust into the middle of a deadly cloak-and-dagger escapade when U.S. agents select her to escort defecting photographer Yuri Klebanoff out of Africa. Then their CIA guardian is killed by a bomb. Will Molly and Yuri reach safety? Will they be able to pass their deadly information to the right sources? Will they fall in love? All the necessary elements of an international chase thriller are present in Wolf's fast-moving tale in the tradition of Helen MacInnes. Molly is a true Eighties heroine--capable, assertive yet sensitive, more independent than her Fifties counterparts. Though the book is sometimes unconvincing, especially the abrupt ending, Molly is endearing, Yuri is appealing, and the political situation is ascurrent as tonight's newscast. Recommended for public libraries.
- Elsa Pen dleton, Computer Sciences Corp., Ridgecrest, Cal.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.