Bannerman's Promise

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Paul Bannerman and his "people" were the government's most efficient killers, until they "retired" to a peaceful, affluent community in Connecticut. But there were promises made that still need to be kept. And old lethal habits sometimes die very hard - especially in matters of honor - or survival. BANNERMAN'S PROMISE Assassins don't come any deadlier than Carla Benedict, Paul Bannerman's most ruthless oprative. And now she's been forced to terminate a smooth, cunning and dangerous spy: her own lover. Bannerman realizes that Carla's extreme actions will ultimately have seriois global repercussions. But he doesn't know how serious until an urgent call from Zurich plunges him into a roiling maelstrom of conspiracy and murder. For there is a terrible cancer growing in the heart of an old enemy - a virulent, rapidly spreading disease that Paul Bannerman has sworn to battle - to the death.From Publishers WeeklySuper-agent/assassin Paul Bannerman returns from semi-retirement in suburbia to confront hoodlums exploiting the chaos in post-Soviet Russia. A gang of rogue KGB agents and cartoonishly brutal Russian mobsters aims to take advantage of the vacuum of authority through an arms-for-drugs-and-hard-currency scheme. Tired of seeing his troubled nation further weakened, KGB agent Leonid Belkin decides to import Bannerman and his uncanny talent for making trouble "disappear." Belkin does this by inviting a former associate, Elena Brugg, to Moscow for a honeymoon with her new husband Raymond Lesko, who is Bannerman's father-in-law. Trouble ensues when Lesko is mistakenly pinned to the murder of one of the mobsters on the KGB payroll. Bannerman, the bad guys, and other KGB and CIA types flown in from around the globe eventually converge on Moscow, just in time for a gory free-for-all. Although a number of scenes convincingly evoke Russia's current malaise, Maxim's ( Bannerman's Law ) labor ultimately yields little more than a turgid, artlessly rendered techno-thriller in which many characters appear to do so much with so little reason. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalMaxim follows up Bannerman's Law (Bantam, 1991) and The Bannerman Effect (Bantam, 1990) with another adventure starring Paul Bannerman and his cutthroat cohorts. In this latest title, the action shifts from Switzerland to Russia as agents, ex-agents, criminals, and security services plot and counterplot in a complex tale of stolen chemical weapons, missing Party funds, and drugs. Groups and individuals collide with one another in violent encounters that also involve the CIA and KGB as everyone tries to control the situation. Readers unfamiliar with Maxim's previous titles may find themselves occasionally baffled by references to various characters' pasts, but the book can stand alone. Recommended for suspense collections and where the author's earlier books have proven popular.-- Stanley Planton, Ohio Univ.Chillicothe Lib.Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.