Mortal Allies

Sean Drummond is back in a provocative mystery featuring the clever, irreverent JAG lawyer introduced in Brian Haig's debut thriller (Secret Sanction). Ordered to Seoul to assist a civilian lawyer representing an army captain charged with raping and murdering the son of the South Korean defense minister, Sean is chagrined to discover that he's second-chairing his old law school rival, the brilliant, beautiful Katherine Carlson, who's famous for challenging the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Katherine insists that Thomas Whitehall was framed by the Army because of his sexual orientation; while Drummond agrees that Whitehall might be the victim of a conspiracy, he thinks it has more to do with espionage than homophobia. By the time he uncovers a plot to destabilize the alliance between the U.S. and South Korea and rid the region of American troops, he's been threatened, bugged, and embarrassed--and that's by his own co-counsel, whose motives and intentions he's entirely misread! While Katherine is almost a parody of a legal provocateur, Sean comes across as an engaging fellow with a ready wit, a well-honed legal mind, and a willingness to confront his own prejudices that wins the reader's admiration. So does Haig, (incidentally, the son of Colonel Alexander "I'm in charge here" Haig) whose skillful pacing and narrative gifts mark him as a writer worth watching. --Jane Adams