For the second time, New York City faces destruction from the air. This time the weapon is a missile full of anthrax and sarin. This time a miracle occurs and the poorly designed missile crashes through a window in the United Nations Building traveling backwards, failing to explode. The ensuing investigation reveals the missile was built in Russia, and is a relic of the Cold War. This being the case, FBI Russian expert William Cowley is assigned to work closely with an old friend, Dimitri Danilov, one of Moscow's top men in the investigation of organized crime.

Working first on opposite sides of the Atlantic, and then together, the two men unravel a crazy quilt plot of Russian gangsters and American ultra right wing hackers, behind which lies an even more complex tale of political maneuvering and infighting. Repeatedly, new evidence fails to clarify, serving instead to obscure the truth. For a good piece of the novel it seems that the criminals ability to plan and execute is only marred by their occasional poor choices of weapons. In the meantime agents die and Cowley and Danilov seem powerless to make any progress.

The third player on the investigation team is FBI agent Pamela Darnley. She works with Cowley and heads the U.S. investigation while he is in Russia. To say that Darnley is ambitious is an understatement, but she is intelligent and determined as well. Darnley is a force to be reckoned with on her own and is responsible for many of the case's breakthroughs. Since Cowley and Danilov were originally introduced in No Time For Heroes most of the character development is lavished on Darnley. The reader will find her an intriguing and unusual character.

I find I like novels in the spy genre best when they most resemble police procedurals, and that is what The Watchmen excels at. Plotting is tight as the story shifts back and forth from Russia to the States. There are countless puzzle pieces, but the solutions are logical rather than magical. And nobody has superpowers, either. Other than slight flaws due to minimalistic character development this is a very readable story that echoes an extremely uncomfortable reality.

(The Watchmen was actually conceived and written before the events of 9/11. In the light of that tragedy, portions of the book had to be revised to reflect that harsh reality.)

--Marc Ruby