Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 29, 1994 TAG: 9405220148
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO Book page editor
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Despite its explosive opening in New York city, "Thunder" is an archetypal "inside the beltway" thriller.
Virtually all of the story takes place in Washington, D.C., or the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs. It's a territory that author James Grady knows well. His plot revolves around a CIA agent who's forced to take over an operation he knows nothing about after his partner is killed. At first it appears that Frank Matthews' death is simply another act of random urban violence; on the way to work on Capitol Hill, he's the victim of a stray bullet. But John Lang was in the car when it happened. He knows that their "liason" work with Congress could be a cover for something else.
That something else is the point of the novel.
To discover it, John has to operate on his own. He soon discovers wheels within wheels, shadowy motivations and treachery. That side of the plot is a staple of the genre, but Grady keeps it moving with a brisk pace, accurate details, ingelligence jargon that sounds right and, most important, fully developed characters. As he did in "Six Days of the Condor," Grady places his protagonist out in the cold where everyone else at the Agency is suspect. All in all, it's a fine suspense tale that might make for a good movie.
by CNB