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Hard Rain by David Rollins |
| (Bantam Books, $26, GV) ISBN 978-0-553-80536-9 |
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| During the Gulf War in 1991, Major Emmet Portman was in charge of a mission which attacked troops and innocent civilians retreating from Kuwait on what became known as the Highway of Death. At least part of the ammunition used in this attack was Depleted Uranium (DU) which had serious effects both on the military personnel who worked with it (Gulf War Syndrome) and the Iraqi citizens.
As Hard Rain moves into the present, Portman, now the Air Attaché to Turkey, learns of a scandal in Kumayt which could affect international relations between the United States and Israel. Before he can tell anyone, Portman is brutally murdered in his office and his bones are disarticulated like pieces of an airplane model save the twelve that are missing. OSI (Office of Special Investigations) agents Vin Cooper and Anna Masters are sent to Turkey to solve the murder. Once romantically involved, Cooper and Masters speak only when necessary and then with abundant sarcasm. Masters is now engaged to a JAG lawyer working for the U.S. government in the class action suit brought by soldiers with Gulf War Syndrome. Several days after Portman dies one of his business associates is found decapitated and the coroner finds Portman's finger at this crime scene leading the pair to initially think that this is the work of a crazed serial killer. This notion is reinforced when an F16 technician is murdered and found with Portman's patella in his back pocket. All roads eventually lead to Kumayt which was one of the disposal sites for DU and is close to a new multi-billion dollar desalination plant being built by an Egyptian businessman. Along the way, Cooper and Masters are abducted at gunpoint by the evil, psychotic, lesbian Yafa and her crazed silver toothpick sucking partner. When they meet a second time, Cooper and Masters are left to die in a deep cistern. Of course, they escape only to meet up with these villains one last time in an exciting but cliffhanging conclusion.
Australian David Rollins has provided us with an intellectual military thriller with a message. Rollins provides an independent viewpoint about the politics of the United States and Israel as well as presenting the differing opinions about Gulf War Syndrome. Vin and Anna were introduced in The Death Twist where they exposed the Vice President in a Russian conspiracy. After the disappointing The Knife Edge, Hard Rain is the best of the three Vin Cooper novels. Hard Rain works as a stand-alone novel but certainly the reader would benefit from understanding the relationships in the prior novels. Readers will have a lot to look forward to in the fourth Vin Cooper and Anna Masters novel.
--Jerry Solot |
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