Robert Ludlum may be read more in France these days than either
the UK or America, but his progeny are as healthy as ever. Cannell
customises the Ludlum formula with silk-smooth professionalism,
and delivers a busy thriller of international intrigue and jaw-crunching
action that makes it easy to forgive the less-than-elegant writing.
When LA playboy Wheeler Cassidy (past his sell-by date but enjoying
life) is obliged to look into the death of his younger brother,
he finds himself involved in the same labyrinthine conspiracy
that is occupying South Central cop Tanisha Williams. This involves
a massively lethal Asian underworld and a criminal conspiracy
that reaches to the most rarefied echelons of American government.
Cassidy and Williams are serviceably (if conventionally) characterised,
the latter's desire to escape from the doldrums of the Asian Crimes
Task Force is a solidly-written motivation, and the narrative
has the kind of frictionless energy that guarantees the reader's
undivided attention.
