Dead Ground

Readers will resent interruptions while they're immersed in this British author's debut, a novel as immediate as today's headlines, and superbly written to boot. The narrative begins as IRA terrorists set bombs to explode in London railway stations during Christmas time. Michael Sayers is badly wounded by a blast that kills his sister and fiancee. In the hospital, Michael identifies one of the terrorists, Danny Parker, from Scotland Yard photos; the rebel is arrested and starves himself to death in jail. IRA veteran Temple is the ice-cold, self-appointed executioner who stalks Michael to take revenge for Parker's ""murder.'' The story drives inexorably to a showdown in a remote area of East Anglia where Michael has retreated with his grief, cutting himself off from his family, friends and job. Temple, killing everyone in his way, corners the English ``criminal,'' and a brave girl who helps him, at the most frightening part of this thoroughly professional, gripping narrative. January 28