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BOOK NEWS Helen Fielding, creator of the Brid-get Jones novels, casts a new heroine in her latest book, "Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination" (Viking. 305 Pages. $24.95). (The title sounds like a Nancy Drew mystery, starring Carolyn Keene’s spunky girl sleuth.) Set in Miami, Los Angeles and several exotic locales, this wildly improbable post-Sept. 11 tale traces Olivia Joules’ ragged journey from freelance journalist to female James Bond. The story begins when Olivia is shifted from news to the style section of London’s Sunday Times. She’s sent to Miami to cover the launch of an expensive celebrity face cream. Olivia hopes it will lead to something more interesting, which it does. At the launch party, Olivia meets the mysterious Pierre Ferramo, a film producer-slash-face cream creator. She’s attracted to Ferramo, though he reminds her of someone. But who? Turns out, it’s Osama bin Laden. Friends convince Olivia that it’s just her wild imagination kicking into overdrive — again. But Olivia knows something about hiding behind a new identity, having created one for herself. Ferramo isn’t bin Laden, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of terrorist activities, Olivia reasons, as she tries to discover his true identity. They play a game of cat and mouse, with Olivia following Ferramo to Los An-geles, Honduras, the island of Popayan, Cairo and the Sudan. Olivia is adventurous, courageous and not easily duped, as she tries to fit together the pieces of the puzzle. A brainy beauty with athletic ability, she’s eventually recruited by others who suspect Ferramo of terrorist activities. Fielding, author of "Bridget Jones’s Diary" and "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason," knows how to keep the action moving as the novel powers up for a blockbuster Hollywood ending that Olivia doesn’t deserve. Love finds Olivia, and she and her new spy-boyfriend save the day. Let’s hope that in the sequel that’s sure to follow, Olivia has ditched this guy and returned to amateur sleuthing.
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