[close] Evan Tanner, the spy who never sleeps, was placed in cold storage at the end of the Cold War--literally and figuratively. But in Tanner on Ice Block defrosts one of his earliest and best series heroes and sends him to Burma to stir up the guerillas, destabilize the country's authoritarian regime, and incidentally assassinate the Nobel Peace Prize-winning daughter of the country's national hero. Before long, Tanner's been set up for murder, drug smuggling, and blowing up Burma's most sacred shrine. Accompanied by a beautiful Russian/French/Vietnamese woman who wants out of Myanmar for her own reasons and has a dwindling cache of precious rubies to pay her way, he snakes through Burma disguised as a monk. Along their journey the two dodge SLORC trackers, insurgent Shan tribesmen, and the henchman of Tanner's mysterious spymaster. In Block's skilled hands, the much anticipated return of Tanner is a perfect summer hammock read. --Jane Adams [close]