Death In Siberia

THE Kremlin is holding one of its top nuclear physicists prisoner far from international view, deep within the Arctic Circle.

THE Kremlin is holding one of its top nuclear physicists prisoner in a military compound, far from international view, deep within the Arctic Circle.

Scarcely a surprise, one might think, but what if that chap possesses, or did possess, a scientific secret which would ensure the world a prosperous future yet wreck the burgeoning Russian economy? What if Russia has its hands on a vast, untapped Arctic oil supply?

And what if the Americans think so much of its potential to alter what remains of the balance of power between the former cold war foes they send in ex-KGB operative Anna Resnikov to dig around a floating nuclear station already the target of dissidents determined to wreck the Kremlin's day?

When you consider what's going on across an increasingly restive Russia today, the steady leakage of decaying nuclear warheads across the region and talk of dirty bombs in suitcases reaching hardliners' hands, how far need former intelligence specialist Alex Dryden, with his close links with Russian dissidents and a pseudonym just for good measure, venture in crafting a believable plot?

Not very far, for what he has here is as modern as tomorrow's headlines.

Then there's a twist: first, Washington needs to ensure its former KGB operative helps stop a planned attack on the nuclear site, because that would wreck the region and - what's more important for the US - the oil. Then it has to appear as innocent as the driven snow.

And get its agent out. And that's before the real story starts.

VERDICT: Classic espionage

Death In Siberia, Alex Dryden, Headline, $32.99