A Faint Cold Fear - Hardcover

Opening with the bust of a coke warehouse in New York City, Daley ( Year of the Dragon ; Prince of the City ) grabs our attention and doesn't let go until the last line. Deputy Chief Ray Douglas, 44 and recently widowed, an NYPD star who loves his job, is sent to "liaise" with the DEA--in Bogota. Reporter Jane Fox, 35 and chafing at subtle sexism at "the paper" (read: the New York Times ) takes a prestigious foreign assignment--in Bogota. Both longing to return to New York, Ray and Jane warily become allies, then friends, then lovers. Their battles with various bureaucracies eventually lead to direct, dangerous confrontation with vastly rich and ruthless drug traffickers. Former Times man and deputy police commissioner Daley gives penetrating inside looks at the NYPD, "the paper," the DEA, South American life and the Medellin Cartel. Never less than informative and fascinating, often exciting and always ringing true, his latest crime thriller also shows "our all-out war on drugs" to be wrongheaded or inept--or both.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A dedicated New York cop, more interested in fighting crime than maintaining the political status quo, Ray Douglas finds himself unwanted in the Drug Enforcement Agency's Colombian field office. His path crosses that of Jane Fox, an ambitious journalist determined to prove that her abilities as a foreign correspondent are in no way limited by her gender. At first each sees the other only as a tool for their respective careers--he as her inside source, she as a means of reminding the NYPD of his existence--but their tentative friendship evolves into a more serious relationship. What begins as a typically violent cocaine saga proves to be a well-written, true-to-life account of drug wars fought not by stock characters but by real people--on both sides. Another fine piece of work from the author of Prince of the City ( LJ 11/15/78) and Hands of a Stranger ( LJ 8/85) . Highly recommended.
- Judith A. Gifford, Salve Regina Coll. Lib., Newport, R.I.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.