Good questions, all of them, but you’d never know from this mashup which of them is most important. Maybe the Ransoms—think...
A nuclear warhead is loose, and only Dr. Jonathan Ransom can retrieve it—if he can get past that rogue wife of his.
Back in 1984, a fiery mishap aboard an American aircraft stranded a powerful nuclear device atop an isolated peak in Pakistan. Now there are telltale signs that the deadly warhead has been recovered by Punjabi-English arms merchant Ashok Balfour Armitraj, who, true to his business instincts, intends to sell it for the highest price he can get. Frank Connor, the head of that supersecret espionage division called Division, has only one chance to infiltrate Balfour’s Swiss compound before he can turn over the weapon. Send in Jonathan Ransom, who’s already been reluctantly entangled with Division more than once (Rules of Vengeance, 2009, etc.), to impersonate Dr. Michel Revy, the cosmetic surgeon slated to give Balfour a new look so that he can vanish with his ill-gotten millions from his pursuers’ radar. Apart from being a crack surgeon, Ransom doesn’t have any notable credentials for the assignment, and before he can be sent into the Alps, he’ll have to be put through a series of training sessions in close-quarters combat, spycraft and counter-espionage at the hands of Israeli mentor Danni Pine. The biggest fly in the ointment, however, is the highly predictable involvement of Ransom’s wife Emma, who’s been forced to help Balfour pluck the warhead from its perch and is still keeping company with the arms dealer. Will the Taliban drug lords waiting to purchase the bomb succeed in annihilating a high-value American target? Can Connor identify the mole inside Division who’s compromised one of his best agents before Connor is neutralized himself? And what sort of connubial reunion awaits the on-again/off-again Ransoms high in the Alps?
Good questions, all of them, but you’d never know from this mashup which of them is most important. Maybe the Ransoms—think Nick and Nora without the laughs—deserve a break the next time life as we know it is under the gun.Pub Date: July 13, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-53154-2
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2010
Once again, Coben marries his two greatest strengths—masterfully paced plotting that leads to a climactic string of...
Coben (The Stranger, 2015, etc.) hits the bull’s eye again with this taut tale of a disgraced combat veteran whose homefront life is turned upside down by an image captured by her nanny cam.
Recent widows can’t be too careful, and the day she buries the husband who was shot by a pair of muggers in Central Park, Maya Burkett installs a concealed camera in her home to keep an eye on Lily, her 2-year-old daughter, and her nanny, Isabella Mendez , while she’s out at her job as a flight instructor. She’s shocked beyond belief when she checks the footage and sees images of her murdered husband returned from the grave to her den. Confronted with the video, Isabella claims she doesn’t see anything that looks like Joe Burkett, then blasts Maya with pepper spray and takes off with the memory card. Should Maya go to the police? They were no help when her sister, Claire, was killed in a home invasion while she was deployed in the Middle East, and she doesn’t trust Roger Kierce, the NYPD homicide detective heading the investigation of Joe’s murder. Besides, Maya’s already juggling a heavy load of baggage. Whistle-blower Corey Rudzinski ended her military career when he posted footage of her ordering a defensive airstrike that killed five civilians, and she’s just waiting for him to release the audio feed that would damage her reputation even more. So after Kierce drops a bombshell—the same gun was used to shoot both Joe and Claire—Maya launches her own investigation, little knowing that it will link both murders to the death more than 10 years ago of Joe’s brother Andrew and the secrets the wealthy and powerful Burkett family has been hiding ever since.
Once again, Coben marries his two greatest strengths—masterfully paced plotting that leads to a climactic string of fireworks and the ability to root all the revelations in deeply felt emotions—in a tale guaranteed to fool even the craftiest readers a lot more than once.Pub Date: March 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-525-95509-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
PROFILES
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Though Christie fans may be particularly delighted, this propulsive, pitch-perfect thriller has something for everyone.
A group of friends at a British college, all connected to the same charismatic scholar of Agatha Christie’s work, are torn apart by secrets and deceptions.
When Jess Walker begins to contemplate going to college, there is only one clear choice: She has to attend the university where Dr. Lorna Clay teaches. Lorna is the author of The Truants, a brilliant work arguing that great artists must destroy their personal lives to create, which has captured Jess’ imagination ever since she was given the book by her uncle. Once Jess starts college in East Anglia, she strikes up a friendship with Georgie, a wealthy socialite with a proclivity to dipping into her mother’s pill drawer; Alec, a 20-something white South African journalist on fellowship at the university; and Nick, a geology student who quickly falls for Jess. A middle child from a farming village, Jess instantly feels her life become more vibrant in the company of her exotic companions. And at the head of it all is the brilliant Lorna, who permeates the boundaries of their lives as students to attend their parties and become their confidante and, eventually, their friend, especially to Jess, who wants to follow in Lorna’s footsteps professionally and personally. But as the relationships among the five become more and more tangled, a tragedy suddenly shatters their lives, forcing Jess to confront the illusory nature of really knowing another. Aside from some slight plausibility issues (if only teenagers’ lives were changed by works of literary scholarship!), Weinberg has written one of the best thriller debuts in recent years, with all the cleverness of Ruth Ware (and, yes, even Christie herself) and a dash of Donna Tartt’s edgy darkness.
Though Christie fans may be particularly delighted, this propulsive, pitch-perfect thriller has something for everyone.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-54196-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
© 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.
