A suitcase full of trouble

Matthew Lewin on The Unknown Soldier | Havana | Just One Look | Run for Home

The Unknown Soldier, by Gerald Seymour (Bantam Press, £12.99)

Suspense in a thriller does not always demand non-stop action; tension is often keenest when the strings of a plot are tightened delicately by a writer who knows exactly what pressure to exert, and when. Gerald Seymour's latest tale is set in a post-September 11 world where the greatest threat to western security could well be one single-minded terrorist with a "dirty bomb" full of radioactive material in an ordinary-looking suitcase.

The focus is on a small caravan of al-Qaida fighters crossing the hostile Rub' al Khali, part of the Saudi Arabian desert known as the Empty Quarter. Their mission is to ferry Caleb, a British-born convert to terrorism, to his destiny with a suitcase. But they are being tracked; a dedicated team flying a Predator surveillance aircraft (armed with ferocious Hellfire missiles) is searching the desert inch by inch. Once into the final 150 pages, you will not stop for a cup of tea or even breathe much.

Havana, by Stephen Hunter (Century, £17.99)

Those who have met Earl Swagger know why the forces of evil inveigle him into impossible situations. The archetypal American idol, a flinty, decorated second world war hero with an unshakeable moral code, he is a soldier of few words.

His weakness is the very simplicity of his patriotism and belief in his fellow man - which is how he gets recruited (as one of the top snipers in the country) to a mission to take out a pesky young bearded revolutionary raising hell in the mountains of Cuba and upsetting American companies, mobsters, hoteliers and casino owners. And, as if things weren't complicated enough, the Russians send their top sniper to protect the young Fidel Castro. Havana in 1953 is rich ground for a novelist and Hunter (the Washington Post's award-winning film critic) is too good to miss a trick. Earl Swagger blazes a unique trail through the perfidy and betrayal in a way that will make readers thump the arms of their chairs with righteous approval.

Just One Look, by Harlan Coben (Orion, £12.99)

In the hands of Harlan Coben, you are kept guessing - and intrigued - until the last line. A notorious hitman mysteriously confesses to a 20-year-old murder of a district attorney's sister. Then a 20-year-old photograph turns up which results in the sudden disappearance of Grace Lawson's husband, Jack.

There is also a ruthless and relentless killer on the prowl, finding his lonely victims in internet chat rooms, and it seems that everything has its roots in the Boston Massacre, a crowd stampede at a pop concert 20 years ago in which Grace nearly lost her life. The man held responsible for the stampede is up for parole, and suddenly the past is re-appearing in the present in the most unpleasant way. Grace, facing the destruction of her family, determines to find out what is going on. Just when you think you understand everything, Coben introduces a surprising twist. And then he does it again. And again. His previous books have been massive bestsellers, and if you read this one you will understand why.

Run for Home, by Sheila Quigley (Century, £9.99)

I don't begrudge first-time novelist Sheila Quigley a penny of the £300,000 she got from Random House for a two-book deal on the basis of this novel, or the huge publicity hype that included a BBC TV documentary. What I do resent is that this fuss is being made about a book that is at best a jog along Jeffrey Archer territory, and at worst an amateur expedition into the jungle of plot design, police procedure and the social conditions of the north-east of England that made me wince with pain and embarrassment.

There are so many plot lines (from white slavery and murder to drug dealing and rape) that it is hard to provide a summary. At times I wanted to run for home as characters delivered broadsides of clichés (from "don't get yer knickers in a twist" all the way to "I'll have yer guts for garters"). Other characters, including her detective inspector Lorraine Hunt, give voice to appalling homophobic attitudes and very depressing misinformation about drugs. It'll probably sell millions.

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