cover image In the Forest of the Night

In the Forest of the Night

Ron Faust. Tor Books, $18.95 (284pp) ISBN 978-0-312-85165-1

In this steamy, irresistible novel, Faust ( The Burning Sky ) yanks an American doctor from the jaws of a rebel firing squad in an anonymous Central American country into the deadlier sights of a corrupt government security chief with his eye on the doctor's beautiful wife. Dr. Martin Springer is about to be shot as an inadvertent witness to a village massacre when Col. Fuerto--a Cuban mercenary hired by the rebels--bluffs past the firing squad and hustles Martin onto a helicopter. Hours later, Fuerto has dumped Martin with minimal supplies on a jungle river, and flown on to Mexico. Meanwhile Katherine Springer has arrived in the capital to locate her husband in all the wrong places--her only option, since the CIA supports the corrupt goverment. There she fires the libido of the chief of the secret police, Cabeza de Vaca. Martin manages a hair-raising journey down river to the capital, where he finds a joyous Katherine--and the real trouble begins. Furious at being spurned, de Vaca blocks the Springers' exit from the country and has Katherine ``arrested'' and interned at a brothel. Martin, hardened by his jungle flight, kidnaps de Vaca's teenaged daughter, forcing a standoff. The re-entry of the ebullient, deadly Fuerte and the ensuing action rocket the tale to a perfect resolution. Faust's clear, unadorned prose and his deft, pure characterization ring with the force of Hemingway or Graham Greene. (Mar.)