Product Description

Mark Beamon has always been an unconventional FBI agent. Years of putting the truth ahead of political expediency have resulted in a dead-end job in the Phoenix office. But a new terrorist threat brings him back from the wilderness.

A videotape proves that a terrorist cell in the United States has access to modern missile technology. The FBI suspects there is a connection between the Mob and the fanatics, and sends Beamon undercover with a fellow agent. When the other agent is brutally murdered, Beamon's attempts to trace the man who fingered them lead him into an international criminal conspiracy that may have roots in the American government. As events plunge him into a river of deceit, he is forced to address the most important question of his life. What makes a crime a crime?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #429813 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

The New York Times
'Fabulous'

Review
'If you haven't read Kyle Mills yet you should - I do' (Tom Clancy )

'Mills does the large-scale thriller better than anyone else working the genre today' (Booklist )

'Mills avoids cynical exploitation, offering up human characters and a story that . . . remains engrossing and affecting' (Publishers Weekly )

'In the world of political thrillers, I have a feeling that young Kyle Mills will soon be a very big player'. (Frederick Forsyth )

'Fabulous' (The New York Times )

'Kyle Mills is that special kind of thriller writer who knows how to keep an ominous chill lurking on almost every page' (Allan Folsom )

Publishers Weekly
'Mills avoids cynical exploitation, offering up human characters and a story that . . . remains engrossing and affecting'

Customer Reviews

spere of influence
excellent sequel to the first book- rising phoenix. mark beamon is back with more insight into the world of the FBI and CIA in the fight against crime. A well written and well paced book with plenty if intrigue and plot twists. He's outcast my his own people and ends up on the other side of the law in order to take down the criminal headmen. An excellent read.

Punching above his weight
Kyle Mills has been the new thriller writer to watch in recent years, often championed by venerable old-timer Tom Clancy, and after a string of exciting thrillers, with this book he looks sure to breaks into the big time. Fast-paced, witty and intelligent - this reads like pared-down Clancy, stripped of all that wearisome baggage he feels obliged to dump on us(note: fiction is not reportage - just because you researched all this stuff doesn't mean we want to hear about every detail). Mills' politics have become more ambiguous as his career has progressed, until here he feels free to explore some pretty murky waters, to thrilling effect. Mark Beamon has emerged as a wonderfully taciturn, sardonic hero, unafraid to bend the rules til they break, to get his hands dirty as he comes up against some pretty unappetising truths.

Owing as much to Nelson DeMille as Clancy, this is marked with a wry wit to match the techno-thrills, and the murky world of espionage and international crime and terrorism is evoked with chilling cedibility.

First-rate thriller writing by a young talent now apparently flowering into a great writer. I look forward to Mills next book.

Sphere of Influence
Good plot, good fun, well-paced and well-written. Although not the most creative and original story-line I've ever read, it's right up to date and very convincing. Good twists and good humour; a kind of Philip Marlow for the 21st century. A good commute or holiday read.