Assigned to the Pentagon after being injured in action in the Middle East, Colonel John Quinn is called in to investigate the crash of a military Learjet carrying the president's brother and discovers that too many people have a stake in the outcome of his probe. By the author of The General. 40,000 first printing. Like his creator Patrick A. Davis, Colonel John Quinn saw some air time during the Gulf War. Unlike Davis (who came home unscathed and became an airline pilot, and then during an enforced layoff authored the bestselling The General ), Col. Quinn caught an Iraqi missile. He went through several agonizing surgeries, only to find out that he'd never fly again. Now he's stuck inside the Pentagon as a lowly assistant to the Air Force Chief of Safety, writing reports on air crash statistics, mourning his failed marriage, and waiting for retirement. Then the president's brother is killed in the highly suspicious crash of an Air Force Lear Jet near Washington, D.C., and Quinn gets the kind of wakeup call Harrison Ford would die for. Against all odds, Quinn is put in charge of this political hot potato of an investigation by a superior officer who up until now apparently hated him. Quinn's ex-wife, a washed-out pilot, turns up at the crash scene as a top official from the National Safety Board--and she seems to have connections to the president's chief wheeler-dealer. Everybody concerned wants a quick and dirty investigation blaming pilot error, but Quinn won't sit still for it. The pilot was a good friend and a top flier; Quinn's partner turns up lots of nagging details about sabotage; and a look at the life of the president's brother reveals a possible scandal of epic proportions. Davis might not be the most stylish writer in the world, but he knows how to quickly sketch in a solid background of Pentagon and flying minutiae against which he sets his shadowy tale. --Dick Adler Davis's first book, The General, sagged under the weight of its plot; this work, to the contrary, moves relentlessly forward. When a plane crash kills the President's brother, Col. John Quinn, head of the Air Force Safety Liaison Office, finds himself spearheading the difficult investigationAalongside his ex-wife. The investigation gets even more difficult as, predictably, almost everyone he approaches tries to keep the truth from him. Quinn is a reliable but poorly informed narrator, and Davis does a good job of keeping the reader guessing. Just when you think you have figured out whodunit and why, Davis tosses in a few more plot twists and turns. A satisfying, if unoriginal, story with engaging characters, this thriller is recommendedAhalf-heartedlyAfor public libraries.APatrick J. Wall, University City P.L., MO Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. By-the-numbers suspense about the crash of a military jet and the cover-up that follows. The ill-fated jet carried only a single passenger, but he had star quality. The death of Joshua Thurston, beloved brother of the president of the U.S., was obviously going to result in a major flap. Among the first to be jarred is youthful Colonel John Quinn, disconcerted, to say the least, on learning that he's in charge of the post-crash investigation. Why me? Quinn wonders. A brave and talented pilot until downed by an Iraqi missile, here's Quinn marking time but not really unhappy in his undemanding Pentagon job. Head honcho in an investigation in the midst of a media frenzy? Bad news. Flying's what he knew, not sleuthing. But, it occurs to him, that might be exactly the point. Suppose high-level people had something to hide? Wouldn't a certain amount of ineptitude be useful? Soon enough, Quinn, aided by his clever friend Ted Chen (a former cop), discovers that high-level people do, in fact, have all manner of secret agendas. The president's conniving chief of staff, for instance, has an acquisitive eye on the land's highest office. The glamorous but enigmatic First Lady had her own reasons to be seriously disenchanted with Joshua Thurston. Still, could anyone be vile enough to commit murder by sabotage? That is, flummox an airplane, sending two perfectly innocent men (the pilot and his co) to their deaths to protect iniquitous ends? You betcha. But despite political pressure, media pressure, attempts on their lives--and assorted suspense-novel dirty tricks--dreadnought good guys pursue malevolent bad guys until hides are nailed to the wall. As was true of The General (1998), Davis's failures in plotting stem from his failures in characterization. The lesson here is that exciting things don't happen to lackluster people. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.