Deep Black: Dark Zone
Stephen Coonts
St. Martin's, Dec 2004, $7.99, 416 pp.
ISBN: 0312985223

Deep Black, a section of the NSA, works mostly with communications; the agency spies through satellites and other devices that are so technologically advanced that their operatives are rarely placed in danger. Retired French agent Denis LaFoote informs former marine sniper and Deep Black operative Charlie Dean that his friend Mr. Vefoures is missing and that he was going to work an assignment for his former master.

Vefoures built an explosive more powerful than anything in use today. The Americans know that a French warhead is missing also, but remain unaware that the lost man and bomb are part of a plot designed by the Arab terrorist Mussa Duoar to blow up the Chunnel and cause a series of devastating shock waves to destroy coastal England and France. Deep Black is putting the pieces of the puzzle together into a cohesive plot, but time is running out to prevent this calamity from happening.

Nobody writes techno-thrillers better than Stephen Coonts does as his action-packed tales grip readers from start to finish with ever-growing knuckle-biting suspense that takes his audience to the edge and beyond. His latest tale DEEP BLACK: DARK ZONE does that and more with a host of heroes who just feel they are doing their job and some sly vile villains who have no compunctions about killing the innocent under the auspices of a "patriotic" cause. Chilling yet exhilarating, readers can count on Mr. Coonts for riveting entertainment.

Harriet Klausner