Desert Fire (Stand Alone 21) PDF
Preview Desert Fire (Stand Alone 21)
Joseph Assad-Sherif is one of the world's most dangerous assassins. Known as Saddam Hussein's "Jackal," his bloody hit list includes the 1972 Israeli Olympic athletes, the South Yemen cabinet, and the 20,000 slaughtered citizens of Hamma, Syria.
Now Assad-Sheriff has been called upon for his most vicious task, acquiring and transporting nuclear technologies for Iraq. When this psychopath takes the life of Sharazad Razmarah, an American citizen working with the German Secret Service, Federal investigator Walter Roemer is set on his trail. Roemer soon discovers that the clandestine operations of the nuclear industry hold many well-guarded secrets, which cannot ever see the light of day. Roemer finds himself battling not only the crazed Assad-Sherif but the German Secret Service, and the clock is ticking: on Assad-Sherif's orders, Iraqi terrorists are heading for Germany's largest nuclear facility . . . with suicidal detonation plans.
The topical premise of this fast-paced but ultimately flat thriller is that Saddam Hussein has cut a deal with Germany to train Iraqis in nuclear technology. Recognizing the problematic nature of the project, the German government will do anything to keep the deal secret. But then Ahmed Pavli, a woman sent by the BND (German Secret Service) to spy on an Iraqi nuclear worker, is brutally murdered. The BND assigns the case to federal investigator Walther Roemer, whose father, the Butcher of Dachau, is now an old man dying in a Swiss sanitorium. When another woman--an investigative journalist--is killed in the same brutal manner as Pavli, Roemer grows increasingly distrustful of the agent's BND contact, Major Ludwig Whalpol. As Roemer tries to build a case against Whalpol, the secret of his father's whereabouts is discovered by Roemer's Iraqi counterpart, Leila Khaled. Roemer's efforts to close the investigation and protect his father build to a finish which is potentially explosive but ultimately anti-climactic. Although Hagberg's ( Countdown ) style is unobtrusive and his subplots are well laid-out, the action--whether in the cause of espionage or romance--is perfunctory.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A lone German detective battles Iraqis and PLO mercenaries seeking to secure Saddam Hussein a powerful atomic reactor that would guarantee him bomb-grade plutonium--in an effectively moody chiller from old pro Hagberg (Critical Mass, etc.). Called in by the BND when a dishy engineer who'd been spying for Deutschland's CIA is brutally murdered and raped in her Bonn flat, Walther Roemer of the Federal Bureau of Criminal investigation finds himself caught up in a baffling, violent case with geopolitical implications. Unbeknownst to Tel Aviv or EC and NATO allies, the Germans have been committed since 1982 (under terms of an ultrasecret deal worth billions) to sell Baghdad advanced nuclear technology. In the wake of his Desert Storm defeat, Saddam deems delivery vital, and he dispatches trusted paladins to ensure the contract's fulfillment. Palestinian Josef Assad Sherif, Saddam's lead negotiator (and enforcer), is soon revealed as the sexual psychopath who killed the BND's undercover agent and, shortly thereafter, a TV newswoman who knew enough to expose the reactor sale. Every bit as alienated as any Dick Francis hero, Roemer stalks and quickly identifies his man. But diplomatic immunity, national-security (plus economic) considerations, and the guilty knowledge that his father (an ex-SS officer wanted for WW II offenses) is living in Switzerland prevent him from arresting Sherif. He also has to contend with Leila Kahled, Sherif's lovely but lethal daughter who's in country as an Iraqi security operative. Roemer eventually precipitates a slam-bang climax, cornering the terrorist chieftain and his hired guns in Germany's largest nuclear complex, which they threaten to detonate after killing the hostages in their custody. An absorbing if wintry tale--especially notable for its broody atmosphere and its driven, world-weary protagonist. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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