The Poison Tree

Queen Elizabeth is targeted for assassination by the IRA in this chilling thriller, the semi-pseudonymous hardcover debut of Michael O'Rourke (The Darkling, a paperback horror novel; numerous TV documentaries). Old hatreds are dying hard in the Ireland of 1997, particularly within the heart of legendary Irish terrorist Michael Kileen, who plans to sabotage an uneasy peace by having the queen killed during her upcoming trip to California. The scheme hinges on a master deception: forcing, under threat of death, 17-year-old Billy Quinn, whose father was killed long ago by British soldiers, to pose as one Brian O'Malley. Brian's grandfather, who has never seen his grandson, is celebrated filmmaker and war hero Major James Queally-Smythe, now residing in California, who will be honored by the queen during her visit. During the ceremony, it is eventually revealed, Billy will detonate a bomb secreted on Queally-Smythe. But after Queally-Smythe enlists the help of a pretty teenage neighbor to usher Billy/Brian into American society, the young man begins to have a change of heart and transforms from pawn to knight. Deftly mixing spy shenanigans and adolescent angst, this sexy, shadowy melodrama is most engaging. (Mar.)