Divisible Man: Thirteen Moons

A missing troubled teen, a series of shell corporations, and a menacing security firm spell trouble for a superpowered protagonist in Seaborne’s thriller, one in a series.

Will Stewart can defy gravity in more ways than one. As the chief (and only) pilot for the Christine and Paulette Paulesky Education Foundation in Essex County, Wisconsin, he takes to the skies in his beloved Piper Navajo. Then there’s “the other thing”; when he pictures thrusting the Navajo’s controls in his head, he vanishes with a “Fwooomp!” and his feet leave the floor. He navigates invisibly through the air with handheld power units, giving him an edge when he and his wife Andrea “Andy” Stewart, a police detective, run into trouble outside of their day jobs. Andy and Will are preparing to welcome their first child when trouble comes knocking: Andy’s sister hears from her college friend Caroline that her daughter is missing, and she’d like Will and Andy to investigate off the books. Baxter Gaffney is a “classic…New York rich kid” who vanishes from an expensive, exclusive therapy camp in Upper Michigan. The crimefighting couple fly to Three Lakes, Wisconsin, where they find a musclebound man called King Kong holding Caroline hostage. Their improvised plan soon falls apart, and King Kong shoots and kills Caroline. The same bullet lodges a shard of bone in Andy’s amniotic sac, requiring her to be immobilized for 15 weeks so that she can safely deliver the baby. While fearing for Andy’s life, Will joins forces with his old friend, FBI Special Agent Leslie Carson-Pelham. The pair begins to uncover a trail of shadowy businesses, including a tiny “personal injury” firm that owns and operates a private jet; an urgent care clinic in a Rochester mall; and a high-level personal protection firm, Gallica Security, that guards its clients “better than POTUS.” All the clues lead back to dirty money and the empire of tech disruptor Bindle Foss, but with Andy in danger back home and Leslie dealing with White House–ordered firings and a new FBI regime, even Will’s “other thing” might not be enough to win the day.

Seaborne works effectively with a familiar cast of characters from past installments—foulmouthed pilot Cassidy “Pidge” Paige, business whiz Arun Dewar, and the personnel of the Essex County police department, to name a few—but the heart of this snappy thriller is Will’s devotion to the “stunning, loving woman” he married, which is clear from the first page. Unlike the romantic relationships in many hypermasculine hardboiled thrillers, their partnership doesn’t come with a side of condescension. The pair banters frequently and easily (“‘Be careful.’ ‘I can’t… Tuesdays and Thursdays are ‘Be Careful’ days this week’”), always showing respect for each other’s smarts. Their compelling, never saccharine marriage and Will’s disdain for the ultrawealthy (“leave it to the rich to figure out how to make money off mental issues”) lend the novel its fierce heart. At times, the focus on personal life scrambles the pacing—for a while, Seaborne seems to forget about Gaffney’s disappearance—which is a shame, since it was introduced with such a compelling hook.

An energetic, empathetic romp for series fans and newcomers alike.