A Wild Justice

The new international bestselling thriller from the master of the genre explores the threat of organised crime in Russia. Craig Thomas is the author of the huge bestsellers Firefox, Firefox Down, and Winter Hawk.

From Publishers Weekly

Combining Russian detectives, Iranian spies, Vietnamese drug smugglers and a grief-stricken American hero, Thomas (Firefox) comes up a winner with his 13th novel. With his usual clarity and energy, he sets two plot lines in motion in the opening scenes: in Russia, local police discover the corpse of an American employee of Grainger-Turgenev, a joint venture in Siberia; in America, Billy Grainger of Grainger Technologies and his wife, Beth, are murdered in their home. Although the American deaths look like the work of robbers, Beth's grieving brother, ex-CIA agent John Lock, soon discovers that Grainger's profits, and Billy's lifestyle, are due to a heroin-smuggling ring that dates back to Billy's service as a CIA agent in Vietnam. Back in Russia, the local cops doggedly uncover evidence that Grainger-Turgenev is involved in a unique kind of drug-smuggling operation. As the Russian cops stir up enough waves to make themselves the target of retaliation by the smugglers and their allies in the Russian intelligence services, Lock must survive long enough to journey to Siberia, join forces with the police and avenge the death of his sister. Readers may be way ahead of Lock in figuring out the identity of the chief villain, but this lapse is more than made up for by Thomas's skill in mixing the grittiness of a police procedural with the high-concept tension of a spy thriller, and by the novel's exciting final third, a brilliantly executed chase sequence set in a Siberian blizzard. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the cassette edition.

From Booklist

Except to the white hats who track the black hat in this post^-cold war spy story, the identity of the malevolent genius is clear. He is ruthless ex-KGB officer Turgenev, who stifles inquiries into his lucrative scam--trading Russian nuclear technicians for Iranian heroin--with gunfire and booby-trap bombs. The murderous action begins in the Siberian natural-gas town of Novyy Urengoy, where an American executive in Turgenev's front company is found dead. The same happens to another exec in America, but the assassins botch the job by mistakenly taking out the sister of ex-CIA officer John Lock, who becomes enraged. Turned vengeful angel, Lock pursues Turgenev and eludes his agents; his luck holds all the way to Novyy Urengoy, where in the meantime and independently, an incorruptible Russian detective has been dodging bullets in his investigation of the first murder. Stronger as action than as suspense, this should engage readers of the author's Playing with Cobras (1993). Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to the cassette edition.

From the Publisher

From the bestselling author of Playing with Cobras comes a mesmerizing thriller that races between Washington DC and the oil fields of Siberia, exposing a scheme catastrophic to the burgeoning commercial relationship between the U.S. and the new Russia. --This text refers to the cassette edition.

About the Author

Craig Thomas is married and lives with his wife and two tortoiseshell cats in Staffordshire. His interests include cricket, gardening and music, especially classical music and jazz. He is also interested in philosophy and political theory (his collection of essays, 'There to Here', is published by Fontana Press). --This text refers to the cassette edition.

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