Requiem For a Glass Heart
Two women, both undercover agents of sorts, find their fates inextricably enmeshed. Irina Ismaylova is an assassin for ruthless Russian crime boss Sergei Krupatin, who controls her by holding her young daughter hostage. Cate Cuevas is a DEA agent who has lost her agent husband in an undercover operation that was botched because of the husband's philandering. Cate is assigned to accompany one of Krupatin's trusted lieutenants (who has been converted into a double agent by the DEA) to a mysterious meeting in Houston. The plan is to get Cate close to Krupatin and then arrest or kill him. Irina will also be there, assigned to eliminate Krupatin's key competitors. Of course, nothing is as it seems, and the initial plans quickly disintegrate into a multicornered cat-and-mouse game. The novel is seriously overplotted; there are simply too many twists to maintain credibility. But the relationship that develops between the two women redeems the book's excesses. Recommended with reservations.George Needham--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.