Heirs of the Fire

Journalist Colin Burke exposes the Saudi trial system to help an old love and ends up toppling a government in Cullen's (Soviet Sources) gripping, authoritative thriller. Burke is filling in at a White House photo-op when he connects a Saudi Arabian prince to a rumored U.S.-Saudi arms deal. He roots out the embarrassing story and runs it, hurting his secret romance with presidential security liaison Desdemona McCoy and drawing the attention of his former lover, Janet Kane, now wed to a Saudi dissident on trial in Riyadh. After Janet asks him to run a story to free her husband, Massoud, Burke attends the kangaroo trial disguised as a Muslim woman. His story jeopardizes the arms sale: the U.S. refuses to sell the Saudis missiles unless the death sentence against Massoud is reversed. Subsequent U.S.-Saudi negotiations enrage the country, and Burke turns war correspondent as the extremist cleric Sheik al-Jubail co-opts the Saudi army, inciting fellow fundamentalists to take over TV stations and rout the royal family. Burke calls in favors at the U.S. embassy to rescue Janet's family but ends up in jail, where he is reunited with Desdemona under unusual, dangerous circumstances. Cullen's fine-grained political thriller maintains a brisk pace, and it always rings true, even as his well-drawn characters pull off extraordinary feats. (Nov.) FYI: Cullen won an Overseas Press Club Award as Newsweek's Moscow correspondent.