Fire with Fire

In this effective revenge thriller, multimillionaire Jake Burke, a hedge-fund manager, becomes the latest vengeful survivor of Islamic terror when a suicide bombing in New York's FAO Schwartz claims his wife and daughter. After improbably getting access to sensitive NYPD investigative files, Burke, assisted by his de rigeur efficient, sexy and devoted young assistant, Miranda, tracks down the terrorist's accomplice in Egypt and kills him, inadvertently derailing the official investigation into the bomber's paymasters. Burke is soon recruited by a shadowy international brotherhood of ex-spies convinced that Iran is on the verge of waging terror with nuclear arms, and becomes their partner and a prime source of funds. Burke and Miranda's covert missions and narrow escapes are thrilling, if implausible, and Kahane often resorts to didactic language in an effort to persuade the reader of the implications of a nuclear Iran, though in the current political climate few readers could be unaware of the stakes. Still, for genre fans with a hefty suspension of disbelief, Kahane's debut provides plenty of hot-button action.