Circle William is a naval procedural that gives the reader no feel for the navy, a technothriller with no technical detail, and a story of political intrigue with politics that aren't particularly intriguing. To read it is to come away for a new appreciation for Tom Clancy's Clear and Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears, which delivered a (much) higher-quality version of the same kind of story far more deftly.

The plot depends on Libya acting in a manner spectacularly contrary to its own best interests, and is driven by a breathtaking string of coincidences, lucky breaks, and characters doing stupid things for no good reason. The characterization is two-dimensional and off-the-rack: the cowboy destroyer captain, the cigar-chomping air force general, the steel-magnolia CIA director, the predatory blonde reporter, the windbag cabinet official. Scenes that should have been exciting set-pieces (a SEAL team's infiltration of Libya, for example) fall flat because Harlow either doesn't know how to write movement and action, or doesn't want to. He has a fair ear for bantering dialogue, but too often slips into the trap of having his characters lecture one another because he wants the audience to listen in.

Some of this is forgivable -- Harlow is a first-time novelist, and first novels are (or ought to be) allowed rough spots. Good first novels, though, have have enough going on beneath the rough surfaces to make you want to forgive the rough spots, and read on -- to find out what happens, to spend more time with the characters, or to absorb more insider-level detail. Circle William," unfortunately, is all surface and no payoff underneath. It has little to offer any experienced reader of naval or political thrillers. ( )

A clever, well-plotted book about two high-placed, competitive brothers whose complementary talents foil a Libyan attempt at germ warfare. Older brother Jim Schmidt happens to be White House press secretary, while his younger sibling, Bill, is captain of the U.S.S. Winston Churchill; their lives don't intersect as much as run parallel in alternating chapters. The Churchill and its crew have a cowboy reputation that is amply displayed in the opening chapters, so amply, in fact, that the reader might wonder whether all those hijacks have a point to them. When U.S. intelligence discovers that the Libyans are plotting a germ warfare strike on Israel, the news can't be released without prompting General Ghadafi to order another strike with a weapon that's already been smuggled into the country. This means that any attempt to stop a preemptive Israeli attack has to look like an accident?and thanks to a beautiful and determined reporter from the Washington Post, Sue O'Dell, Bill Schmidt and the Winston Churchill receive front-page press as an accident waiting to happen. Harlow expertly sets up the perfect ruse for an "accidental" shootdown of a Libyan jet (the title refers to a shipboard defense against radiation and chemical-weapons attack), while Jim's official involvement keeps the reader apprised of backstage maneuverings. Subsequent naval scenes vie with the White House settings for authenticity; there's an especially entertaining sequence about a media flap that occurs because somebody says the truth aloud. The plot takes several interesting turns before racing to a suspenseful climax. Despite characterization that some may consider naive(e.g., that there might actually be a reporter patriotic enough to put her country's best interests ahead of a story), ( )

3.2