<DIV>By the author who "isn't just abreast of the headlines, [but] ahead of them" (<i>The Washington Post</i>), this is a novel at once international and personal --and altogether riveting. Malachy Kitchen is an intelligence officer in Iraq. accused of cowardice, he becomes a recluse in a drug-infested housing project back home. But the mugging of an elderly widow draws him into the fight --his target is the network of substance dealers, and at their head is Ricky Capel. untouchable up to now, Capel will have to confront an enemy more driven than any he has so far outwitted.<br><BR></div>