Caitlin Strong is female John McClane

Caitlin Strong, a fifth-generation Texas Ranger, was the only woman member of that storied band of lawmen; but as Jon Land's "Strong Enough to Die" opens, things have not been going well for her.

Her partner has been killed and Caitlin injured in a border shootout with smugglers. Shaken by the affair, Caitlin has turned in her star. As if that weren't bad enough, she's gotten word that her husband, a software specialist working for a private contractor in Iraq, has been killed by terrorists.

Looking for work, and perhaps redemption, Caitlin wanders into a private clinic that treats victims of torture and asks for a job as a counselor. What she finds there shocks her, propelling her into an investigation that stretches from the Mexican desert to the Persian Gulf.

The book is a page-turner, the pace blistering, the characters well-drawn and the action hot. The plot is timely, exploiting fears of border smuggling, torture, high-tech snooping into private lives and out-of-control private security companies. Land, a better writer than most who work in the genre, lays the story down in a tight, vivid prose style:

"The gunmen emerged through the front door minutes later, carrying the bodies now wrapped tightly in garbage bags and duct tape. The one who looked to be in charge stood off to the side, smoking a cigarette. Fireplug was next to him, pleading his case. The leader seemed to be shrugging him off, ignoring his claims and explanations. Just stamped his cigarette out with his shoe and climbed back into the rear of the trailing SUV, as if Fireplug weren't even there."

A couple of weeks ago, at the annual meeting of the Mystery Writers of America, a panel of agents and editors lamented the lack of credible female protagonists in the thriller genre. Caitlin Strong is just what they had in mind. She shoots her Ruger faster and straighter than is humanly possible - the sort of thing we want in an action hero. Vulnerable in her personal life but relentless in her profession, she's a female version of Roderick Thorp's John McClane from "Die Hard."

Fortunately, we'll be seeing more of her. Land, author of more than two dozen thrillers, is already at work on the second Caitlin Strong adventure.