cover image Blindfold Game

Blindfold Game

Dana Stabenow, . . St. Martin's Minotaur, $23.95 (260pp) ISBN 978-0-312-34323-1

Known for two successful Alaskan mystery series (featuring Kate Shugak and Liam Campbell respectively), Edgar-winner Stabenow (Fire and Ice ) has crafted a taut, credible thriller that should win her a much larger audience. Opposing resourceful, ruthless and well-funded terrorists ready to bring unimaginable devastation to American shores are a husband-and-wife team: Hugh Rincon, a Langley-based CIA honcho, and Sara Lange, the executive officer aboard the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Sojourner Truth , which patrols the Maritime Boundary Line in the northern Pacific Ocean. Globe-hopping action moves from Thailand to Hong Kong, Korea and Russia, culminating in a naval showdown off the Alaskan coast. The author's depictions of the Alaskan environment, its seas, storms and cold, have never been more vivid, while the sea and air operations she recounts are both heroic and enthralling. Stabenow has established herself as a fine mystery writer, but she may have found her true metier with this excellent thriller. Author tour. (Jan. 23)