Purpose of Evasion — Greg Dinallo

Greg Dinallo’s blockbuster Rockets’ Red Glare earned rave reviews for its ingenious use of the Cuban Missile Crisis and detailed knowledge of current military technology. Now, with Purpose of Evasion, Dinallo proves he’s a master of the techno-thriller genre. Seven Americans languish in captivity somewhere in the Middle East. Soon they will begin to die. In desperation, CIA Director Bill Kiley authorizes the shadowy air force colonel Richard Larkin to carry out a shocking plan: Under the cover of a punitive air raid on Libya, Larkin will deliver two highly sophisticated F-111 bombers to Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi. The reason? Qaddafi claims that he knows where the hostages are and that he can deliver them safely into American hands. The catch? Larkin must kill two American pilots to make the plan work. In Beirut, a brilliant and handsome Saudi named Saddam Moncrieff, secretly working for the CIA, arranges a meeting with an old lover. She is Katifa, passionate, flawlessly beautiful, and completely committed to the vicious Palestinian terrorist Abu Nidal, who had hidden the hostages somewhere in the Middle East. For the sake of the hostages, Moncrieff must somehow turn Katifa against her master. As Larkin’s cynical plot is executed, he makes one crucial mistake: Major Walter Shepherd, one of the American pilots marked for death, escapes. As long as Shepherd lives, the operation can be exposed. Kiley and Larkin make a decision: Shepherd must be found—and killed. A team of assassins is dispatched to locate and terminate the fiercely independent air force pilot. Shepherd sets out on a heart-stopping journey to save his honor and his life—unaware that, at the very same moment, a crack navy SEAL team has been sent on a mission to rescue the hostages. The tension mounts to unbearable levels as Nidal’s deadline for killing the hostages draws near, and Shepherd finds himself caught in the violent madness that is the Middle East.Purpose of Evasion is a stunning triumph, an eerily plausible “what if?” techno-thriller set in a world where deception is a way of life and death haunts every moment.