BLIND TRUST

This third installment of Eckles’ thriller series offers a glossy mix of high finance, jet-setting glamour, and clandestine operations.

The story opens with the shocking discovery of the FBI director’s dead body in Washington, D.C.’s Riggs Hotel and the haunting image of a bloody woman fleeing into the alley. Mere hours earlier, Celeste Donovan, a billionaire financier turned reluctant operative, was already on the run, her carefully laid plans unraveling. The narrative moves further back in time, picking up where the second Celeste adventure left off, with Celeste grieving her brother and trying to build a life with her loving new husband, Theodore. But shadowy figures, like her mysterious ally Michel Lemoine, keep hinting at more trouble and secrets. From a shadowy collective of FBI and CIA agents called the Illuminati, Celeste learns of a potentially devastating cyberattack that might be connected with security breaches at her hedge fund. Against a backdrop of corporate boardrooms, luxury hotels, and private jets, Celeste struggles to untangle a web of money and lies that may all lead back to her villainous ex, Omar—or perhaps even someone still close to her (“The fact remained—someone was compromised. Perhaps several in her circle…”) Eckles’ premise—a fabulously wealthy woman spends her free time donning disguises and unraveling international terrorist schemes—is a fascinating one, and fans of the previous installment will be happy to have more of the same. But this third outing is quickly weighed down by the baggage Celeste’s convoluted story has accumulated. Exposition is woven so thickly into the action that shootouts get interrupted with heavy-handed asides meant to remind readers of exactly who is who in relation to Celeste. While her luxurious world is a fun one to explore (filled with every fancy brand name and high-end restaurant imaginable), the dense narrative is in too much of a hurry to let Celeste or readers catch their breath.

A flashy hybrid of thriller genres with a dazzling hero and an overstuffed plot that derails momentum.