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FDLE Agent Lends Credibility To Cop Thriller

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By GEOFF HAMLIN

Published: February 17, 2008

"Burn Zone," by James O. Born (G.P. Putnam's Sons, $25.95)

"Burn Zone" is a solid cop story written by a real cop. James O. Born is a special agent for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and his descriptions of police procedures and interagency conflicts, as well as various locations, all ring true.

In this, his fifth novel, his hero is Alex Duarte, a young agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Duarte still eats at home with his parents and has no idea how to deal with women. Nonetheless, his competence on the job has earned him the nickname "the Rocket" within his agency.

The book starts with a bang, as Duarte and his partner assist a Drug Enforcement Administration team in arresting a drug dealer in a blue Jaguar (which the DEA is anxious about damaging). The bust goes bad, and the perp flees. He is collared by Duarte, and the DEA pressures him to help catch a Panamanian drug kingpin named "Ortiz."

To the displeasure of the DEA and ATF, the FBI inserts itself in the form of an attractive special agent and martial arts expert.

She is nicely balanced on the bad-guy side by Ortiz's equally deadly enforcer, Pelly, who through a combination of size and genetic disorder (hypertrichinosis) looks like an ape.

These characters travel to Panama, New Orleans and across the United States with bales of marijuana, a nuclear weapon and a redneck who may have had something to do with the Oklahoma City bombing.

Not only is all this tied up in a neat package at the end, but in the meantime, Duarte also has learned how to talk to his girlfriend and brings her home to meet his folks.

Geoff Hamlin of Pinellas Park is a freelance writer.

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