The Meatman

Mallowe combines his background as a reporter with his skill as a raconteur to produce a compelling thriller. The main plot centers around the Russian counterpart of the Mafia, the centuries old and secretive Malina, which is attempting to replace the Mafia in America; but this is only one level of this multi-leveled narrative. The novel opens with a bang when Philadelphia mob boss Paul ""Meatman'' Presto is blown up on his front doorstep, and the pace hardly lets up until the explosive finale. Detective Philip Driscoll, who years earlier had an affair with Mafia ``princess'' Honoria Presto, discovers that her father's death is the latest in a series of hits on Mafia bosses around the country. Disturbed by the ominous pattern, Driscoll ends up working with headstrong Honoria to find her father's murderer, while at the same time trying to protect her from the white-haired hired killer dogging their footsteps. The action moves from the streets of Philly to contemporary Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam to the bleak environs of Moscow and Odessa. Driscoll stumbles on a conspiracy between intelligence organizations and rival mobs on both sides of the Iron Curtain that threatens America's safety and image at home and abroad. With this credible, evocative, carefully detailed debut, Mallowe is well on his way to establishing himself as a first-class thriller writer. (March)