Joshua's Hammer (Kirk McGarvey Novels)
When Saudi zillionaire Osama bin Laden speaks, Allen Trumble, CIA chief  of station in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, listens. When bin Laden breaks the news that  he's the proud owner of a Russian-made, suitcase-sized nuclear device and  wonders if there might not be someone else higher up that he might speak to, the  call goes out to Kirk McGarvey, deputy director of operations. A call also goes  out to some very bad men who, upon the Trumble family's return to the States,  slaughter the lot of them in, of all places, a Disney World parking lot.The administration, never bin Laden boosters, thinks even less of him after the  Disney World hit, but the man does have a bomb, so off McGarvey goes to  Afghanistan for a face-to-face and a look-see. Once McGarvey's in situ--and  after bin Laden surgically removes a homing device from his body--the president  becomes convinced that McGarvey's been killed and orders a retaliatory strike.  It misses bin Laden but hits and kills his beloved 19 year-old-daughter, Sarah.This time, as they say, it's personal, and bin Laden knows just what to do with  his bomb. Detonate the little bugger below the Golden Gate Bridge just as  President Haynes's Down's syndrome-afflicted daughter is passing above. Tick,  tick, tick, tick.And so goesJoshua's Hammer, David Hagberg's umpteenth thriller and the  eighth entry (after 1999'sWhite House) in his popular Kirk McGarvey  adventure series. The premise is less than original, but fans of Clancyesque  techno-thrillers won't necessarily be disappointed. The book moves well despite  Hagberg's off-the-rack prose and characterizations, and, if the reader can  navigate the babble-strewn home stretch, delivers a none-too-surprising yet  satisfying finish.--Michael Hudson