Acid Test

June 25, 2001
Genghis Kitsch! In this lively first novel, a competent if over-the-top techno-thriller, the earth is menaced by a Mongolian megalomaniac named Bhatu Khan, who has recreated a Golden Horde of drug-induced supermen and, with the aid of stolen military superware, plans to conquer the world. The pages echo with the inimitable voice of Ming the Merciless Emperor of Mongo: "Take them to the atom furnace!" Actually, Bhatu Khan doesn't have an atom furnace, but LaManna has action-packed everything else into this thriller, including an array of high-tech weapons, a mad scientist and a U.S. president going mad just as the enemy threatens to attack. Counterintelligence AFOSI (U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations) agent Matt Wilder, aided by historian Laura Bishop, is assigned to investigate a rash of murders committed by ordinary people in a weirdly emotionless manner. Ricocheting from the familiar to the farfetched, the narrative moves swiftly, sizzling an acid trail around the globe as it speeds toward a high-stakes conclusion. While the publisher's comparisons to Tom Clancy are premature, screenwriter LaManna's prose is pleasant to read, and he strives gallantly to make his characters human. Agent, Lisa Vance, Aaron Priest Literary Agency.

With action from the word go, this sizzling adventure will catch you up and keep you glued to your earphones. The Mongol hoards, organized by Batu Khan, are equipped with microwave weaponry, drugs that create superhuman powers, and galloping stallions clad in Kevlar armor. They're coming to America. Only one man can stop them, and it isn't the president. George Guidall reads all this astonishing activity with the aplomb of a seasoned news anchor and exemplary timing. LaManna's novel was written before September 11, so its finale is slightly outdated. But this hardly detracts from any of it. B.H.B. (c) AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine