This is actually a mystery/spy & intrigue novel. Here's the description from the book cover: "The best-selling author of The Formula blends, suspense, sensuality and intrigue in a brilliant international thriller. From the first page, the reader is caught in an ever-tightening web of mystery and terror. The Circle takes us nonstop from a clandestin meeting in the Glass Room below the headquarters of the CIA to the exotic Angel Cloud Houses of Korea, and on to the heroin factories of Sicily. Phil Ricker, U.S. Deputy Attorney General, exposes a political assassination that leads him to a sensuous and breathtakingly beautiful Korean girl, an agent of the insidious KCIA. The web tightens with the appearance of Claudia Cassini, the mysterious link between the power brokers of the Overworld and the godfathers of the underworld. Together they are thrust into a global quest for a missing FBI file belonging to the late J. Edgar Hoover. The file, code-named "Gemstone", exposes a group of self-appointed demigods who have placed us all on the cutting edge of Armageddon."

'The Discovery' I read was a paperback version. It was entertaining, fun and filled with plausible situations. The steps taken by the characters to reach the discovery were realistic, if too lucky. Anyway, I enjoyed it. The discovery might be real....

Steve Shagan shows his considerable skill at plotting, but unfortunately, his prose is lacking. American journalist (and CIA agent) Tom Lawford becomes involved in a German/Libyan/Pakistani plot to nuke Israel. His participation in the plot is relatively plausible, which is to say not the stuff of action movies. He mopes around Germany until he--in the book's lone headscratcher--takes on a mission for the Mossad. The real action is undertaken by the Israeli intelligence and military, whose ever-vigilant warriors Shagan clearly admires.
The plot moves quickly and intricately, sketching out the reactions of all countries concerned and their neighboring countries as well. The downside is that Shagan's prose is not up to the task, and his characters never come to live. Lawford is your typical beefy hero; his female contact in Germany immediately falls in love with him. Everybody else is exactly who you would think--the head of the CIA is cold and practical; the head of the Israeli secret operations division is world-weary; the brilliant Israeli scientist is of course eccentric.
Reading "The Pillars of Fire," the events have the ring of truth, but the characters have the ring of a Steven Segal movie.

The book addreses the mid east problem and the bond between the islamic countries. It is a great book to read through but if you are looking for some thing to interpret on, foget about it. As usual it displays only one side of the conflict portraying the muslims as the root of evil, while ignoring the position the "villians" stand on. The author sure did his research but the technicalities of the events are all wrong. The hero is depicted as an almost ultimate human and the villians as incompident, idiotic fools. It cruises nicely through out and is hard to put down. It gets a little cheesy with soap opera type romance but that does not shadow the supperior wrting style. If you're more concerned with reality, technicalities, and interpertations etc, I'd advise to pass on. But if you're looking for a simple escape with out any major thinking, You're in for a good treat. Enjoy

it is a nice book to go through