by Morris West
This new novel by the author of Harlequin, Summer of the Red Wolf and The Shoes of the Fisherman is about terrorism and society's inability to deal with it. The dialogue is so flat it's painful: " 'You're a thinker,' said John Spada. 'I'm a doer.' " What John Spada does is threaten to put a deadly "Botulinus toxin" into the world's water supply if all political prisoners aren't released. He also demands to address the U.N. General Assembly so he can tell the world to do right. West, like popular novelists Harold Robbins and Irving Wallace, always focuses on a topical theme. But of the three, West is so heavy-handed it's hard to see how he ever attracted enough readers to become a best-selling author. (Morrow, $9.95)
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