Detective Chief Inspector Harry Fathers

of Scotland Yard s Serious Crimes Squad

is articulate, canny, tenacious and one

step ahead of his so-called superiors. He

runs his squad with a firm hand, juggling

as many cases in a day as there are hours,

and laces his impeccable integrity with a

strong dose of irreverencc.

When Whitehall summons him it s for

a briefing on the disappearance of Dr.

Michael Sampson, a British research sci-

entist on loan to a New York-based think

tank. Sampson has disappeared. Since he

was working on satellite technology--

specifically SDI, or "Star Wars"--White-

hall wants some answers, and they send

Fathers to New York to get them.

"Given his work," says the steely-eyed

man from the Home Office, "his disap-

pearance must be a crime, and the list of

possible perpetrators begins with the

KGB and gets more outlandish from

there."

In New York, Fathers finds that the

situation involves the FBI as much as the

NYPD. The "official" line is that Samp-

son dropped out of sight of his own

accord; unfortunately all of his papers

have also disappeared in a series of "co-

incidental" burglaries. Cover up seems to

be the name of the game.