Peter Avakian is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, now a security consultant retained to cover an international gymnastics competition in Beijing. He is working within the bureaucratic processes of the Chinese government when they alert him to the fact that the Taiwanese President will be in attendance. Even before the competition, Peter is called to intercede with the government because they are holding one of the US competitors for shoplifting. During that negotiation he meets Dr. Judy Rose, the team doctor. They are about the same age and after he secures the gymnast's release, they make plans for a dinner date.

Meanwhile at the competition, Peter's worst fears are realized when an assassin diverts enough attention that the Taiwanese President is assassinated. The repercussions are predictable as Taiwan starts escalating war threats and China responds in kind. US personnel are considering their evacuation plans when Peter and Judy encounter serious problems with the unofficial outbreak of war.

After their dinner while walking they become involved in an event and one of the attacking Chinese hoodlums ends up dead at the hand of Peter. Since they were in a non tourist area of Beijing, their Anglo appearances are remarkable enough to identify them to the high level Chinese Security that had been working with Peter.

The chase is on as Peter and Judy know they must evacuate China on their own. It is at this point that the novel turns from interesting to riveting. The author has carefully delineated the Chinese agencies with respect to their authority and their power politics. He pits these agencies against Peter's security expertise, which Peter subtly twists to becoming the perpetrator rather that the protector. Peter starts this escape with a female physician he barely knows, but does respect, and plies his very inventive mind to the task at hand: first getting out of Beijing with every policeman looking for them, and then escaping China via the northern route to Mongolia.

This author clearly knows China; its customs, its politics, its people and its infrastructure. With very skilled writing he brings this knowledge into a plot that has a clever and fresh uniqueness. The characters are more credible perhaps for their flaws than their virtues, and the interaction and evolving romance between Peter and Judy rounds out a novel that truly has something to appeal to each type of reader. Darkness Under Heaven offers so much more than the usual escape story and one hopes that F.J. Chase, whoever he may be, is planning another novel.

--Thea Davis