A tightly focused and exciting second installment of a thriller series.
A just-retired Navy SEAL tries to save his Vietnamese mother from a drug lord in this thriller sequel.
It’s been over 40 years since Mai Cordell has seen her adopted brother, Dish. She left her home country of Vietnam with a United States soldier named Curtis, and the two married and started a family in America. She finally returns to Vietnam to reunite with Dish, but asking locals about her brother catches the attention of Trần Nam Tin. He’s a drug smuggler who seems intent on controlling operations in the three-nation region (including Laos and Cambodia). Dish, meanwhile, is a gun smuggler who helps arm anti-communist rebels. After he and his comrades attack some of the drug lord’s men, Dish sends a warning to Trần that he “is going to come for him.” Consequently, Trần abducts Mai to bait Dish. When Mai’s son, JD, learns what has happened, he, his Navy SEAL pals, and his trained Belgian Malinois, Ajax, head to Thailand with a plan to sneak into Vietnam. At the same time, Dish searches for his sister; once he teams up with his nephew, they’ll hopefully be able to find Mai and rescue her. Like the series’ first installment, Gilbert’s enjoyable sequel offers some rousing subplots, including—prior to JD’s retirement—SEAL Team 5’s attempts to rescue Dr. Ellen Chang, whom terrorists kidnapped for ransom in Niger. But this novel concentrates on fewer characters, such as the returning players Curtis, Mai, and Ajax. There’s also less action, though there are several opportunities for JD to demonstrate the Vietnamese martial art Nguyen-Ryu, which Mai and Curtis taught him. Still, the narrative gradually builds to a tense latter half, with Mai as Trần’s hostage and Dish in his crosshairs. JD’s story also evolves as the well-established hero suffers more than one loss.
A tightly focused and exciting second installment of a thriller series. (acknowledgements, author bio)Pub Date: June 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73460-232-6
Page Count: 302
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fun read. Terrorists make great Clancy fodder.
Evildoers plan attacks from America to India, and Jack Ryan Jr. is a prime target.
In Washington state, a man and his family are murdered, and President Jack Ryan learns it is another Poseidon Spear incident. Three retired members of that counterterrorism group have been killed now, and the U.S. government suspects a mole in its midst. Meanwhile, the Umayyad Revolutionary Council believes it has a holy and wholly anti-American mission. Against this backdrop, Jack Ryan Jr., and his fiancée, Lisanne Robertson, visit Delhi, India, to attend the wedding of Srini Rai, the brilliant surgeon who attached Lisanne’s prosthetic left arm. Lisanne had lost her arm in Tom Clancy Shadow of the Dragon (2020). Jack and Lisanne are both operators working for the Campus, a covert group that executes secret presidential directives. A wedding is a happy occasion, and the engaged American couple intend the trip as a vacation. Jack and Lisanne will attend a sangeet, an elaborate pre-wedding party. But it isn’t long before they survive a suicide bomb attack. As with all Clancy novels, there’s plenty of action on a global scale. In simultaneous strikes, terrorists plan to contaminate America’s Western water supply with radioactive waste from Washington’s Hanford nuclear power plant, blow up a spectacular new bridge in Kashmir, and kill the evil Ryan—or Junior, at least. It will be At-Takwir, the end of days. There is an appealing mix of Indian culture, high-speed action, and the rich lode of details that characterizes the whole series. And in the background lingers the question on several characters’ minds: Have Jack and Lisanne set their own wedding date?
A fun read. Terrorists make great Clancy fodder.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2025
ISBN: 9780593718032
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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