cover image Weapon of Vengeance

Weapon of Vengeance

Mukul Deva. Forge, $25.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-7653-3771-9

An overly melodramatic plot and derivative characters mar this thriller from Indian author Deva. Ravinder Singh Gill, the head of the Indian Anti-Terrorist Task Force, has a lot on his plate: Delhi is hosting both the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Summit and the Commonwealth Games, and each is possibly the focus of a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, Ravinder’s long-estranged daughter, MI6 agent Ruby Gill, is coming to town to settle a score with him—and wreck the peace conference. Ruby is angry because she thinks Ravinda abandoned her and her mother years ago. The sympathetic Ravinda tries to do his best while battling the same sort of impediments that his American counterparts do—meddling superiors, inept underlings—all while trying to figure out if Ruby is the terrorist kingpin he’s hunting. Readers should be prepared for some clumsy prose (e.g., “She beheld a sturdy silver, almost-new Nissan van, with a solid air conditioner”). [em]Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (June) [/em]