LETHAL ANGEL

One man’s crusade becomes a nation’s best hope against terrorism in this cyberthriller.

A suicide bombing in Sacramento sets the country on edge. The mastermind behind that attack is Brett Fadi Knouri, aka The Angel, who recruits suicidal older people to become his weapons. The only one aware of The Angel is Kern Hendley, who has secretly set up a system to track potential terrorist activity during his day job as a Medicare fraud analyst at the Secret Service. He’s driven by his fiancee’s death in the Boston Marathon bombing. Word of Kern’s side project slowly leaks out, making his future tenuous. Col. Lippold of the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command is intrigued by Kern’s process. He assigns CIA agent Laura Berbera to recruit Kern for him. Kern and Laura quickly fall into an intense relationship. But after a bombing in Los Angeles, Daryll Hoff, Kern’s imperious supervisor, takes a new interest in the analyst’s project, making his extraction from the Secret Service difficult. Kern and Laura track down a third bomber in Washington, D.C., where she is badly injured attempting to prevent an attack. The Angel’s scheme has a connection to a member of the Saudi royal family, making the terrorist a target of assassins. Meanwhile, Kern must erase his program inside the Secret Service without getting caught. There’s some deep philosophy hidden behind the cat-and-mouse activity among Kern, Laura, and The Angel. Kuechler uses his background in cybersecurity to highlight the vulnerability of personal information in the modern world. Kern’s system works by finding patterns among big data. The author skillfully balances the advantages for national security against how that impinges on personal privacy. He also deserves credit for delivering a cast of complicated characters. Kuechler has two fanatics facing off: Kern, who lost his fiancee, and The Angel, who blames Jews for his father’s death. Both are geniuses who condescend to nearly everyone. Ambitious Laura dumps her fiancé, who can’t understand why her career is more important than he is. Lippold is a well-hidden spy who too often hedges his bets. Then there are bureaucrats everywhere. The author trusts readers to process his multifaceted characters. What results is a complex, thought-provoking story.

This propulsive cautionary tale deftly spotlights the clashing elements of technology.