cover image JINN

JINN

Matthew B. J. Delaney, . . St. Martin's/ Talley, $24.95 (448pp) ISBN 978-0-312-27670-6

Saving Private Ryan meets Alien in Delaney's tense and involving first novel, a hybrid that transcends its several genres. In the deadly jungles of the Pacific Theatre in 1943, young Private Eric Davis sees something "long and squirming" burst out of the stomach of a dead soldier. Davis is picked up by a ship, the Gallo, which is promptly shelled and sent to the bottom. Flash forward to the year 2007: Pierre Devereaux, a Jacques Cousteau type, is directing an undersea documentary when he discovers the wreck of the Gallo. Not surprisingly, Devereaux's assistants are horrified when they see Davis's corpse banging its head insistently against the window of their sub. A year after the Gallo is brought back to Boston, a series of murders begins to plague the city. In their hunt for the killer, Det. Will Jefferson and his partners Brogan and Watson gradually realize they are up against something both inhuman and amazingly old, with incredible will and enormous power. Delaney knows how to generate chills and suspense like few other new authors in recent memory. A page-turner if ever there was one, this mystery-horror thriller (with a soupçon of SF) achieves a wholly convincing aura of terrifying antiquity. (Feb. 28)

Forecast:With the book already optioned by Touchstone Pictures, this one is sure to generate a lot of buzz and sales. Obviously, the jinn is out of the bottle.