The Last Goodbye

Library Journal

Former CIA agent Marcus Malone is asked to pose as an international fugitive and illegal arms dealer in order to find Yotari Kawai, a survivor of the destruction of Nagasaki who will do anything to get his hands on the components for a small atomic device. His goal: to destroy San Diego. Malone, on the verge of financial ruin, takes the job but has second thoughts when he realizes that he may be in love with Karen Faulkner, whose many failed marriages have left her with no interest in a new relationship. The action heats up when Karen places herself in danger. The pseudonymous Bell, a former federal government employee, writes without emotion, and his novel feels somewhat flat, but he keeps his plot moving and gives Malone a believable life undercover. The fast pace and runaway ending make for good reading. For general fiction collections.--Jo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Heights-University Heights P.L., OH

Case

Brilliant…A whirlwind of a thriller!
—New York Times

Kirkus Reviews

nA former government employeen debuts with an old-fashioned spy saga featuring a globetrotting exnCIA agent, a passionate dental assistant, and high-tech gadgets galore. A dismembered corpse found in the trunk of a Mercedes in Soweto leads CIA agents to a Turkish arms dealer, who is shot before he can reveal the purchaser of a supply of red mercury, an ingredient required to make small but deadly nuclear bombs. A stack of purloined spy satellite photos of San Diego leads CIA director Curtis Willoughby to believe that terrorists are planning the destruction of the city. To smoke them out, he offers former agent Marcus Malone a suicide mission: go undercover as a corrupt arms salesman with a pot of red mercury to sell. Before departing for Europe, Malone drops in on his local dentist and falls for the charms of Karen Faulkner, a beautiful Harvard grad who wrote research papers on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle before opting out and becoming a dental assistant. One romantic Thai dinner later, the two end up in bed and then in Slovenia, where they spend a lot of CIA funds in expensive hotels before meeting the nasty henchmen of Ito Kawai, the hideously scarred Japanese businessman and sponsor of worldwide anti-American terrorism. Kawai, whose idea of fun is burying his victims alive, wants revenge on the US for dropping the atomic bomb on Nagasaki that disfigured him and incinerated his parents. Slowing succumbing to the effects of radiation exposure, he plans his vengeance with the bombing of San Diego. Though Karen is held hostage, and Malone's batch of red mercury spiked with a secret homing device will bring a bomb-loaded US fighter bearing down in a matter of minutes, ourrugged action hero not only saves the day but ends up with a new identity and enough money in the bank for a sequel. Hokey, frivolous fun for fans of sadistic bad guys and deathless James Bond heroics.