From Publishers Weekly
Good background detail about terrorism gives Pearson's ( Probable Cause ) new thriller an edge, as he juggles dramatic forensic revelations with taut, sometimes melodramatic personal relationships. Pearson pits FBI agent Cameron Daggett, obsessed with capturing the terrorist responsible for the Lockerbie-style plane bombing that killed his parents and paralyzed his son, against German terrorist Anthony Kort, a member of the radical environmental vigilante group Der Grund. Kort plots to kill the CEO of companies dealing with EisherWorks, a German firm implicated in a toxic waste disaster that led to the death of his wife and infant. Daggett's nose for scientific evidence connects the murder of a flight instructor at Seattle Duhning Aircraft with the capture of a high-ranking member of Der Grund in Washington, D.C. The trail heats up in L.A. with the explosion and crash ("hard fall") of a plane carrying hazardous chemicals. Daggett and sexy explosives expert Lynn Greene track Kort and his right-hand woman Monique to D.C., where remnants in the wreckage suggest that they plan to blow up a second plane--very soon. Daggett's loved ones become pawns in a race to the photo-finish showdown at National Airport. The male-bonding antics hover around frat-house level, and Pearson freely plays loose with standard FBI procedures, but all in all this is an entertaining read. Major ad/promo; Reader's Digest Condensed Book; BOMC selection. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
Coming back strong from last year's ragged Probable Cause, Pearson turns in a tale of international terrorism that offers the sort of breakneck action, mature characterization, and tight forensic detail that made Undercurrents (1988) a police-procedural classic. The story opens with a literal bang as hero Cameron Daggett's FBI superior opens a booby-trapped suitcase and blows himself and Daggett's chief link to German radical environmental-terrorist Anthony Kort to kingdom come. The foul-up particularly irks Daggett because he's sure that Kort is responsible for the airplane bombing two years back that killed Daggett's parents and left his son Duncan a paraplegic. Daggett picks up Kort's trail again, though, after the German questions and kills a Seattle flight instructor and then somehow causes the crash of a plane taking off from L.A.'s LAX--a crash that, after complex forensic deduction, Daggett and his new sidekick, alluring FAA agent Lynn Greene, eventually pinpoint to poison gas released on the plane. Tracing Kort to D.C., Daggett and Greene realize that the German plans to down another plane. The pair give chase even as, right under Daggett's nose, Kort sets about seducing Daggett's live-in girlfriend, Caroline, who responds warmly in retaliation for Daggett's growing interest in Greene. Stealing Caroline's keys, Kort sneaks into Daggett's house, kidnaps crippled Duncan, and then fakes his own death in order to divert Daggett from discovering his goal: to crash a plane into the Pentagon, where five leading industrial polluters will be meeting. But as the minutes to the ``hard fall'' of the plane tick down, Kort still hasn't figured on Caroline's furious love for Duncan or on Daggett's rage for revenge at any cost.... Not as psychologically probing as Undercurrents, and hampered by the far-fetched premise, but, overall, a well-oiled thriller with every gear smoothly spinning at top speed. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
The tragic bombing of EuroTours Flight 1023 was big news. To FBI Agent Cam Daggett it was more than that. It was personal. His parents and son were on that plane. And for two years he's been after the killer who did it. All he has to go on is a name: Anthony Kort...and the knowledge that Kort is in the United States with a detonator no airport security can detect. HE MUST BE STOPPED. Daggett's colleagues at the Bureau and his girlfriend tell him his vendetta has become an obsession. They suggest he leave the investigation to other agents, in order to keep it objective. But having painstakingly constructed a portrait of the terrorist, Daggett believes he's now the only one with any chance of predicting Kort's next target. A novel of madness and revenge, Hard Fall begs readers to fasten their seatbelts.


From the Publisher
First there was Lockerbie. Then Eurotour's Flight 1023. Now the bomber is ready to strike again! The bombing of Eurotours flight 1023 was big news. To FBI agent Cam Daggett it was more than that. It was personal. His parents and son were on that plane. And for two years he's been after the killer who did it. All he has is a name: Anthony Kort . . .and the knowledge that Kort is in the United States with a detonator no airport security can detect.Cam's colleagues at the Bureau and his girlfriend tell him to get behind a desk, to leave the investigation to other agents. But Cam has painstakingly built a portrait of the terrorist, and he alone has a snowball's chance in hell of predicting Kort's next target. Except hell is a much kinder, gentler place than where Cam's headed -- into Kort's depraved world of madness and revenge.

ANNOTATION

The author of the national bestsellers Probable Cause and Undercurrents delivers a heart-pounding psychological and forensic thriller--"an adventure with all the engines churning" (People). Two years after the bombing of EuroTours Flight 1023, FBI agent Cameron Daggett is still on the trail of the killers. Because for him it's personal--his parents and son were on that plane.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

First there was Lockerbie. Then Eurotour's Flight 1023. Now the bomber is ready to strike again! The bombing of Eurotours flight 1023 was big news. To FBI agent Cam Daggett it was more than that. It was personal. His parents and son were on that plane. And for two years he's been after the killer who did it. All he has is a name: Anthony Kort . . .and the knowledge that Kort is in the United States with a detonator no airport security can detect.

Cam's colleagues at the Bureau and his girlfriend tell him to get behind a desk, to leave the investigation to other agents. But Cam has painstakingly built a portrait of the terrorist, and he alone has a snowball's chance in hell of predicting Kort's next target. Except hell is a much kinder, gentler place than where Cam's headed — into Kort's depraved world of madness and revenge.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly