The set-up takes the entire first half of the book.

A transatlantic airliner is shot down by a missile shortly after taking off from Kennedy International Airport. All those aboard are killed.

President James Beckwith's campaign for a second term seems headed for defeat.

Elizabeth Osbourne, a high-powered Washington D.C. lawyer, knows her biological clock is ticking and is desperate to have a child.

Michael Osbourne, Elizabeth's husband, is a CIA case officer on counter-terrorism. He is investigating whether the mideast terrorism group known as the Sword of Gaza was responsible for the downing of the airliner.

Mitchell Elliott is the shadowy head of a military defense contract company who has donated heavily, both legally and illegally, to many political candidates.

Susanna Dayton, a journalist and long-time friend of Elizabeth's, is investigating Mitchell Elliott's influence with the President and Congress.

A man known as Jean-Paul Delaroche appears to be a solitary artist living in a small French village on the English channel. In fact, he is the world's deadliest assassin, code name October, originally planted in the West by the KGB. His signature killing method is three gunshots to the face. This was the fate of Michael's first love, who died in his arms.

A highly secret international group of really, really, really bad guys known only as the Society and headed by a man known only as the Director is using terrorism and assassination to direct world events in such a way as to promote their interests.

With the half-book length, the set-up is overly long. All the globe-trotting and jumping from one character to another make for a rocky beginning. Just as the reader is getting acquainted with one situation, the author yanks her out of there and on to another. But once all the characters, connections, and conflicts are revealed, the novel gallops full-tilt to the climax.

The hero, Michael Osbourne, varies somewhat from the more familiar stock hero of such thrillers: he's happily married (even if he forgets critical appointments with his wife) and is not one of those all-too-common hero/studs looking forward to his next sexual conquest.

This is in stark contrast to October whose life is solitary both physically and emotionally. October is one of those arch-villains who approaches hero status (in contrast to the rest of the villains who are morally degenerate). Yes, he's a cold-blooded killer, but he rationalizes it in that his victims were people who needed killing and someone else would have done it anyway. It doesn't take much experience with the sub-genre to realize that Michael and October are inevitably destined to a climatic show-down.

For thriller enthusiasts, Mark of the Assassin is a must-read. Hang in through the first few chapters – it gets better. Much better.

--Lesley Dunlap