Patterson (In the Name of Honor) brings his usual encyclopedic research to this exploration of what is quickly becoming a tiresome thriller subgenre, the Arab terrorist with a nuclear bomb. History lectures and political lessons tend to slow what is generally an interesting if only mildly suspenseful account of a terrorist plot involving bin Laden himself from the early planning stages to the very gates of nuclear disaster. CIA agent Brooke Chandler and his retired agency mentor, Carter Grey, believe that the target of the attack, which they know is scheduled for September 11, 2011, will be Tel Aviv rather than an American city. This unpopular opinion forces the two men almost singlehandedly to hunt down a deadly terrorist, Amer Al Zaroor, to foil the bomb plot. Patterson's work is always serious, detailed, and meticulous, which makes this a scary how-to manual for terrorists, but something less for readers looking for straight-out action and thrills. (May) The Preacher Camilla Läckberg, trans. from the Swedish by Steven T. Murray Pegasus (Norton, dist.), $25.95 (432p) ISBN 978-1-60598-173-4 Swedish bestseller Läckberg's worthy second thriller set in the coastal town of Fjällbacka (after The Ice Princess) opens with a grim discovery—the naked fresh corpse of Tanja Schmidt, a German tourist, on top of the skeletal remains of two young women, later identified as Mona Thernblad and Siv Lantin. All three were killed in the same way, but as Det. Patrik Hedström and his team soon discover, Mona and Siv went missing in 1979, and Johannes Hult, the prime suspect in their disappearances, is long dead. The reason for a sadistic killer's reappearance may be hidden among the many secrets and conflicts of a local clan of religious eccentrics. The troubled Hults, from conniving founder (known as the Preacher) to philandering spouses, show a Ross Macdonaldesque love of twisted family relationships, while Läckberg's colorful, diverse police force, staffed with the competent, the incompetent, and the merely distracted, recalls the humanist touch of Dutch author Janwillem van de Wetering. (May)
