Book excerpt: An undercover operative heads to the island paradise of Tahiti to prevent a nuclear nightmare in this novel by “the John D. MacDonald of espionage fiction” (Larry McMurtry, The New York Times). Freelance agent Joe Gall is supposedly monitoring French atomic testing near the Pacific island of Tahiti. But that’s just a cover. His real assignment: disrupt the budding relationship between De Gaulle and the Red Chinese. The plan is to kidnap one of the leading French scientists, sabotage the test—and prevent annihilation . . . “I admire Philip Atlee’s writing tremendously.” —Raymond Chandler