Tenth Circle

October 28, 2013
Readers will have no trouble telling the good guys from the bad guys in Land’s gung-ho 13th Blaine McCracken novel (after 2012’s Pandora’s Temple). McCracken, the operative who gets the call “when the SEALs or Delta have already passed on the mission,” single-handedly penetrates and destroys a massive underground nuclear facility in Iran, but that’s just the warm-up. A far greater threat involves the Rev. Jeremiah Rule, a twisted preacher who’s fomenting hatred of Islam and the U.S. government. At play is a weapon of mass destruction with links to the lost colony on Virginia’s Roanoke Island and the ghost ship the Mary Celeste, and McCracken and his comrades-in-arms, Sal Belamo and Johnny Wareagle, are the only ones who can prevent a horrific terrorist attack designed to bring America to its knees. A series of escalating clashes between the principals leads to a suitably climactic showdown. Agent: Bob Diforio.

December 15, 2013
After putting the character on a lengthy hiatus, Land brought CIA agent Blaine McCracken back to the page in 2012's Pandora's Temple. Readers who enjoyed that book will enjoy this one, too. It begins with a couple of famous historical disappearancesthe lost colony of Roanoke and the crew of the Mary Celesteand a tantalizing question: What if the two events were somehow connected? And what, pray tell, does a Muslim-hating American preacher, whose bigoted proclamations appear to have sparked terrorist attacks against the U.S., have to do with them? Mixing political-thriller themes with more fantastic elements (the book's title refers to the tenth circle of hell, and the phrase isn't being used metaphorically), the novel may seem a bit out of left field to readers who know the author from his Caitlin Strong action series, but those who remember McCracken's wild and frequently SF-tinted adventures should have a great time.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)