WHIRLWIND

Run-of-the-mill escapism—fun but not distinguished—from third-timer Garber (Vertical Run, 1995, etc.).

“Whirlwind” is the code-name for a new device, supposedly the most fearsome and horrific since the atom bomb. When two generators on a secret base in New Mexico blow up, Russian spy Irina Kolodenkova falls into possession of a computer disc and a 70-pound block of Whirlwind that she intends to get to the Russian embassy in San Francisco for transportation to Moscow. Sam, the angry National Security Advisor who plans to be the next president, calls in grizzled widower Charlie McKenzie, a death-proof hero in his 50s who’s just finished a two-year jail term, having taken the fall for higher-ups, including Sam. Charlie had been doing dirty work (killings) for the CIA. As Sam explains to Charlie, the future of the West depends on recovering the disc and the block. Even more self-confident than James Bond, Charlie returns to duty—for $20 million—and sets off in pursuit of Irina. He quickly catches up with the gorgeous spy, who, like Charlie, is an all-purpose defensive being and supercapable. Enter Johan Schmidt, a supreme killer hired by Sam to take out Charlie once Charlie gets Whirlwind back from Irina. The long series of chases here involves Charlie’s outwitting the CEO of the California DefCon company that invented Whirlwind, his fighting off Schmidt while saving Irina, and teaming up with Irina for an exciting dash across a surreal desert landscape, along with firefights showing that Irina is as sure a shot as Charlie. Meanwhile, the Chinese have a hand in the game as well.

Charlie amuses with his superlative craftiness—but that’s about it for originality. (N.B.: Don’t confuse this spy fiction with the season’s other novel named Whirlwind, a bad-weather tale by Michael Grant Jaffe, coming from Norton in October.)