If we start with the reasonable premise that no sane person wants war, what does that say about the history of mankind? It seems there have been wars since the first group of cavemen found a good watering hole and another group wanted to take it away from them.

From then until the present day, there were innocent victims of each of those struggles: Orphaned children, raped women, slaughtered old people, the death of even peace-loving men who needed to protect their land, their family, and themselves, not excluding those conscripted by a bellicose leader who wanted something and decided to take it on the backs of those who couldn’t have cared less.

As technology has improved, or at least become more powerful, the ability to kill larger and larger numbers of people and destroy more and more cities at greater and greater distances has dramatically increased, which gets us to the pretty pickle in which we find ourselves today.

Everyone is at the mercy of terrorists. It is very difficult to prevent violence by someone who is willing, even eager, to die. Whether strapping bombs to their torsos or flying planes into buildings, Islamic extremists have proven to be the most consistent collection of murderous martyrs the world has ever known.

The government of the United States has been willing to battle terror in several countries in the Middle East with conventional weapons and forces. It has kept its enormous arsenal of nuclear warheads safely tucked away in silos and on submarines around the world. It appears willing to keep them inactive, as long as no nuclear attack befalls America. If one does, there is a secret government plan to loose a rain of nuclear bombs on Muslim cities in every part of the globe, causing the annihilation of something approaching 200 million to 400 million Muslims. This plan is known as “Wild Fire” and is hard-wired, meaning no president or military leader can stop it once America has been attacked.

Well, that may not be true, but it is the premise of the new thriller by Nelson DeMille, “Wild Fire” (Warner, 519 pages, $26.99), and it is utterly plausible. Mr. DeMille, as usual, has done a thorough research job, added a bit of secret information, combined it with a staggering creative intelligence, and topped it with a sharply witty sensibility to produce one of the best thrillers of the year.

Joyfully, “Wild Fire” brings back the former NYPD homicide detective John Corey, now a member of the Federal Anti-Terrorist Task Force, and his wife, Kate, a special agent with the FBI. Although clearly a happily married couple, he drives her nuts with his sarcastic humor, his willingness to break all the rules of law enforcement to which she tries so hard to adhere, and his political incorrectness.

At one point, he spots a headline in the New York Times: “U.S.-French Split on Iraq Deepens,” and says to Kate: “See? If these people ate real food like the Irish and the English, they’d have some [guts]. Who eats snails?” He then continues: “Here’s another story: A fireworks display at Disneyland outside Paris caused the nearby French army garrison to drop their weapons and surrender to a busload of Swedish tourists.”

The Custer Hill Club is a luxurious hunting lodge of vast, fenced-off acreage in the Adirondacks, the members of which are some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country: businessmen, politicians, and highranking military leaders. Ostensibly a place to relax, hunt, eat, and drink, the club has taken a more serious and ominous turn after the terrorist attacks.

As in numerous previous political and military thrillers, a band of right-wing fanatics has decided that the administration isn’t doing enough to protect its people and has concocted a plan designed to dramatically alter the overly soft direction of government policies. It is not giving away too much to say that members of the Custer Hill Club have decided to initiate “Wild Fire” by setting off nuclear devices in two major American cities.

You know how, with some books, you start reading at 7:00 o’clock, read for 2 hours, look at your watch and find it’s 7:20? “Wild Fire” is the opposite. It’s a long book, more than 500 pages, but it’s a page-turner that’s faster than Paris Hilton. With suspense so intense at moments that it seems unbearable, it’s mercifully leavened by the smart-aleck mouth and actions of Corey.

At one point, Corey tells Kate that this plot to nuke American cities by patriots who may be a trifle overly enthusiastic has the smell of something in which his long-time enemy, CIA agent Ted Nash (who may have slept with Kate before her marriage), could be involved. “John,” she reminds him, “Ted Nash is dead.” “I know,” he replies, “I just like to hear you say it.”

Is the premise believable? Perhaps extreme, but yes, I believe so. The driving figure at the lodge claims to have bought four suitcase nuclear bombs from the Russian mafia. They cost only $10 million. With the wealth available to Osama bin Laden and various terrorist groups, it would be naïve — no, it would be simple-minded — to believe that it would be impossible for them to acquire such devices. There are undoubtedly many important political and military figures in America right now who wonder only how many bombs these murderers-in-waiting already have picked up for what is essentially loose change. And then what? What do we as a nation do about it? “Wild Fire” may be an option.

Oh, yes. It’s only fiction.

Sure it is.

Mr. Penzler is the proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in Manhattan and the series editor of the annual “Best American Mystery Stories.” He can be reached at ottopenzler@mysteriousbookshop.com.