PRO CONNECT
A globe-spanning bioterror thriller that tests the limits of its heroine’s courage—and the powers of the seven souls that inhabit her.
In this sequel to 7th Soul (2023), when we again meet Ruggiero’s protagonist Coby Rodriguez, she’s juggling her life as a mother with her duties as intelligence operative. She’s then given an assignment that begins with “an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale.” The threat is a weaponized pathogen nicknamed Apocalypse, born in the icy reaches of the Merkit region and capable of killing in seconds. Early scenes in Siberia foreshadow its devastation: “They marched to the howling winds… [when] out of the distant sky, they heard a sound that was not normal—a clapping sound amplified by the mountains.” As these pathogen outbreaks strike unsuspecting cities, Coby is pulled deeper into a multinational hunt for Ogodal, a disgraced scientist turned extremist whose motive, the seven souls warn her, is simple: “Greed. The plan is to hold the world hostage for a monetary ransom.” Alongside her eclectic team—Mass, Elsa, Scott, Sergei, Izzy, and Eddy—she moves from intelligence headquarters to underground safehouses, from diplomatic corridors to remote mountain bases, with rapidly escalating stakes. Ruggiero injects the narrative with adrenaline-charged set pieces: covert break-ins; high-pressure interrogation scenes; and frantic tactical shifts as governments scramble. Yet the book’s most distinctive layer is the mystical one. The souls guiding Coby intervene at pivotal moments, sometimes with unnerving clarity: “Danger so great that we will not be able to save you… It will be soon.” The supporting cast adds texture and humor—(“I have the aorta of a pig” Elsa says after surgery) or the team’s running banter about assignments in warmer climates. Meanwhile, politics churn in the background. As the chase tightens and global pressure mounts, Coby’s supernatural abilities collide with her very human fear of failing her family—one of the novel’s strongest emotional currents. Ruggiero keeps the focus on urgency, action, and the uneasy blend of science and mysticism that defines his world.
A bold, unsettling inquiry into guilt, judgment, and the impossible weight of spiritual responsibility.
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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