Through sheer will, a lone wolf agent makes a big impact in this exciting tale.
A military agent following his gut uncovers a government conspiracy in this thriller.
In this series opener, set in Manuel Noriega’s Panama, Edward’s protagonist is United States Army Special Agent Dirk Lasher. Loner Dirk is an undercover field agent collecting intelligence from low-level informants and funneling it back to analysts. One day, Dirk takes down two strangers who make the mistake of attempting to intimidate him. That’s when he learns that his informants are aware of his undercover status since U.S. agents keep rotating through the same house. Dirk also discovers that the two people he had brutalized are Drug Enforcement Administration agents coming to meet him. He searches for Army Sgt. Jack Williams, who was supposed to let him know about the DEA agents. Dirk rescues Williams, who is being held by the PDF, Noriega’s security force. Dirk also finds out that the PDF is involved with a group looking to crash the international financial market. Then the wife and daughter of Dirk’s informant Thomasito get abducted by Pablo Escobar’s Colombian thugs. Dirk and his volunteer team take part in a DEA assault to try to recover them. Despite suffering a significant loss, Dirk accomplishes his objective, taking intel to a prominent official. Edward, who has previously mostly focused on SF, wrote what he knew this time out. During his Army career, he served as the special agent in charge of the 1990 Panama Canal counterterrorism threat assessment report. That experience lends authenticity to this frenetic novel, as he brings the Panama of Noriega’s time to life. Dirk proves a second-generation soldier, raised by a grandfather who had served. But the protagonist’s doubts about the military bureaucracy shine through as he seeks a more effective way to aid the innocent. The author develops intriguing helpers for Dirk in Jack, a career desk jockey forced into the field, and Sarah Mariana, an ambitious, new Puerto Rican soldier who wants to make her mark on the world. Most of all, Edward has created an engaging hero in Dirk, bound for greater things in the series’ next entry.
Through sheer will, a lone wolf agent makes a big impact in this exciting tale.Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2021
ISBN: 979-8460105618
Page Count: 305
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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