of a brutally murdered biker. The victim is the brother of one of the leaders of the Bandidos, a ruthless motorcycle gang, engaged in a vicious turf war with Denmark's Hells Angels. Struggling to extract herself from the compromising situation, Casey learns that her partner in the Stinger missile project has been shot, caught in the crossfire of a gun battle between the Hells Angels and the Bandidos. Suddenly Casey is the sole link between two violent deaths, and when she barely escapes an ambush, it becomes dangerously clear that someone wants her out of the way before she makes the connection between the dead men.
As the solstice approaches in the land of the midnight sun, a dark web of treason, espionage and terrorism spreads from Washington, D.C., to the capitals of Eastern Europe. Both the Danish police and U.S. embassy officials are asking a lot of questions, but the more Casey learns the less she can reveal to them. Now the countdown has begun in Casey's desperate race against time to save lives and not to lose her own. From the highest circles of power to the violent criminal underworld, she follows a trail across Europe on a harrowing search for the perpetrators-only to find that they might be closer to her than she ever imagined, waiting to destroy her at any moment.
Available in paperback from Harper Torch ($6.99).
Originally published in hardcover by Avon Books.
NIGHT ON FIRE is available in Dutch from Luitingh-Sijthoff publishers, titled VUURNACHT (ISBN 9-024538718). Also available in Estonian from Olian Publishing, titled TULELÕÕMAS ÖÖ (ISBN 9985-66-292-X)
While the stunning political changes in Europe virtually ended one genre of espionage writing, they opened up new possibilities for another: counterterrorist stories. Eugene writer Diana Deverell quickly established herself (with one book, as a matter of fact) as a master of that genre. 12 DRUMMERS DRUMMING introduced readers to counterterrorist expert Casey Collins--and to Deverell's facile use of language.
The pace is fast, the characterizations are strong, and Deverell has even more finely honed her ability to make language pull us into the action: "I touched her shoulder, my eyes on the slicked down strands of her hair. The overhead fixture highlighted the gray strands, marbling the red. I smelled the strawberry gel she put on it, overlaid by the odor of meadow grasses from Dyrehave, beneath both the rank scent of her terror."
Once a Foreign Service officer herself, Deverell knows the terrain she writes about very well, whether it be the physical Europe, the political Europe, or the dynamic and uneasy blend of cultures that a millennia of togetherness/separation has wrought. NIGHT ON FIRE places you in the middle of a very real landscape.
In fact, everything about this book seems very real: the people, the places, the action. All that makes for a thriller that grips rather than merely interests, a thriller that grabs you by the throat and makes you come along for the ride. And with Deverell in the driver's seat, the ride is unforgettable.
Diana Deverell has once again taken us to the slippery and dangerous place where criminals, terrorists, cops, spies and diplomats collude and connive and deceive. The characters guiding us are like the ones she knows from her own experience--good, but flawed people confused and frustrated by moral, legal and bureaucratic conundrums.
Black market missiles and warring bikers mix dangerously with a teenage boy's medical emergency and a troubling, out-of-the-past romance in Deverell's solid second Casey Collins novel (after 12 DRUMMERS DRUMMING). The engaging narrative is an adroit blend of soap opera and action-adventure, with the human relationships sharing center stage with the gripping mystery and the wily plot twists. Thanks to sharp storytelling, the intertwining subplots feed seamlessly into the main plot line, and Deverell's fine-tuned first-person narration showcases Casey's intelligence and emotional heft to equally involving effect.
Night on Fire is an excellent international espionage thriller that brings to life the anti-terrorism efforts of American and Europe. The story line is non-stop with treason and double cross as the name of the game. However, what makes Diana Deverell's novel worth reading is the author allows her characters to fully develop so that readers feel concern for them. Anyone who enjoys an entertaining espionage thriller will want to read Ms. Deverell's superb novel.
Deverell successfully juggles at least three distinct plot lines throughout the book. A number of off-the-beaten track foreign locations, showdowns and passionate interludes are deftly detailed before Deverell pulls everything neatly together at the end.
We are off and running with the opening sentence: "I was racing toward disaster." It's pretty hard to put down a mystery which starts with such energy. This foreign service agent is frequently dealing with plane explosions and the multiple deaths resulting from them. Some themes of NIGHT ON FIRE are reminiscent of her first book. However these are definitely stand-alone adventures. Deverell knows her material well and deftly leads the reader into and out of some very complex plot situations.
Deverell's background as a U.S. Foreign Service officer and the wife of a former captain in the Royal Danish Army serves her well in creating this fast-paced suspense novel.
Armchair detectives and accidental tourists are in store for a summer treat with Diana Deverell's second spy thriller. ...For readers fond of things Scandinavian, NIGHT ON FIRE is set almost entirely in Denmark in mid-summer, with a dank interlude in Devon to chill the overheated reader. ...Bodice-ripping lust and surprising connections between sub-plots propel this thriller.
Deverell's skill at spinning a complex and twisted plot remains undiminished from 12 DRUMMERS DRUMMING, the first in this series. ...The Danish setting is another plus. While the book never bogs down with long descriptions, Deverell's knowledge and obvious affection for the country and its people add another layer of depth to an already solid work.