Shaiton's Fire (Chapter 16: Waging War on Terror, Book 1)
Terrorism is the theme of this inspirational suspense novel, which was completed before September 11 but updated afterwards to include plenty of references to the attacks in New York and Washington. A subway train in San Francisco is blown up in the first strike by Shaiton's Fire, a small, radical group of terrorists planning to destroy one of California's largest nuclear energy plants. It's up to Chapter 16, an interagency counterterrorism unit, to stop them. Family man Steve Alstead is on the team and desperately juggles his desire to keep his country safe while mending the rift that has developed between him and his family over his extended absences. It's not long before his home and work life collide when his son is kidnapped and events move toward a climax. The novel has some troubles-the characters are not fully developed, and Thoene often tells rather than shows. Overdescription, tasteless humor, inconsistencies such as a character's eye color being alternately green and brown, and a showy use of military acronyms and technical jargon slow down the pacing. Thoene also liberally sprinkles cliched and cutesy subheadings throughout the chapters. But with suspense novels garnering some attention in the CBA and terrorism in the headlines, this could find an audience.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.