A fast-paced, compelling yarn that thriller readers will enjoy.
Three Allied leaders may be in mortal peril at a critical World War II conference in 1943.
In a sequel to The Devil’s Weapons (2022), Professor Sebastian Kapsky has been extracted from Nazi-dominated Poland and whisked off to Gotland. He has a notebook with “strategically critical scientific and mathematical data” that could lead to the development of a frightening, war-ending weapon. The enemy knows of the notebook and wants it, but Major Richard Canidy and First Lieutenant Eric Fulmar of the U.S. Army are assigned to protect it. Unfortunately, the Thorisdottir twins, “six-foot Nordic goddesses,” betray their trust. They steal the notebook from the American duo and will gladly sell it back to them or to the Soviets for an exorbitant price. The Americans screwed up, but they get a new assignment because they are still the best. Churchill, Stalin, and FDR plan to meet at a conference in Tehran, where Uncle Joe will press for his allies to open a western front to relieve Nazi pressure on the Soviets. Aware of this plan, Hitler orders a decapitation strike to kill the three heads of state and throw his enemies into chaos. Meanwhile, the Russians are thinking of staging a sham—a failed assassination attempt to make the eastern front situation appear even more dire. This is the crux of an exciting and highly plausible story. Expect blood to flow and skulls to crack as elite Nazi forces try to eliminate the American officers. There’s a good balance of skill and power among the main characters—SS Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny and Soviet Major Taras Gromov are top assassins with a lot of people to kill, not the least of whom are Canidy and Fulmar. And how bad are the bad guys? One of them wants to work alone, so he slits the throat of the man assigned to help him. Damn, that’s cold. All the important characters appear first in The Devil’s Weapons, so you may prefer to read the books in order. Based on the ending, a third installment looks likely in this absorbing series.
A fast-paced, compelling yarn that thriller readers will enjoy.Pub Date: July 9, 2024
ISBN: 9780399171222
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Fast-moving and disturbingly plausible.
Robots may be the future of warfare in this final father-son DeMille collaboration.
In Camp Hayden, Army Maj. Roger Ames is found dead, his skull crushed. Chief Warrant Officers Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor, special agents of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Division, are sent to the Mojave Desert, “a.k.a. in the middle of nowhere,” to investigate. In this fictional military installation, Army Rangers conduct field training exercises with lethal autonomous weapons. These “dangerous new toys,” nicknamed “tin men,” may become the future of warfare if they can be programmed to distinguish between friend and foe. Anyway, the Rangers’ job is to train the tin men, not the other way around. They are AI-driven robotic prototypes called D-17s, but even prototypes can kill. Did a bot kill the major? And was there criminal liability or intent, or was it a tragic accident? Brodie and Taylor discover that not everyone loves these beasts, and they must find out if humans are programming them for mischief or even trying to set up the program for failure. Meanwhile, the bots have nicknames. Bot number 20 is Bucky, seen on a video as a “seven-foot-tall titanium machine with hands covered in blood and brain matter” that has “a face but no eyes, with hands but no skin, with a body but no soul.” As scary as these beasties are, Brodie and Taylor must also look at the humans at Camp Hayden, because they learn that the “machines don’t have motives….They have inputs and outputs,” which naturally come from human programmers. They have neither brains nor courage nor honor; they do have brute force, speed, and agility. Obviously, plenty goes haywire in this enjoyable yarn. It feels a bit too believable for comfort, and that’s to the DeMilles’ credit as storytellers. Nelson DeMille had begun this project with his son Alex, who had to finish it alone after his father’s death.
Fast-moving and disturbingly plausible.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781501101878
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
