A fast-paced, riveting, medically driven tale.
A surgeon fights to recover a vaccine for a virus the American government may have created in this third installment of a thriller series.
Dr. David Aaronson, who’s wanted by various United States agencies, is hiding in Fallon, Nevada. Though a small town of only 8,000 residents, it seemingly faces an epidemic when quite a few locals die after coughing up blood. But a mysterious man has shocking information for David. The U.S. government supposedly released lethal virus “CoVid23” in Fallon with the intent of testing a vaccine. Behind this deplorable plan is Col. Jonathan Neville, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency director. He claims China weaponized CoVid23 for an imminent biological strike against the U.S., but David believes this virus is homegrown. Neville, who’s chummy with powerful sorts, including the president, soon learns that Fallon’s town surgeon is piecing together the director’s scheme. Neville has people in Nevada to keep an eye on David and, if need be, to eliminate him. As the “supervirus” attacks multiple nations, David makes a daring attempt to get the vaccine Neville is harboring before many more die. Van Anderson quickly sets an unwavering narrative momentum with concise writing and succinct chapters. The subplots are gripping; David, for example, falls for local woman Nova Featherstone, who may be infected and whose murderous, drug-trafficking father poses a serious threat. The story is plausible as well, as the author, a former heart surgeon, vividly details medical procedures and describes a U.S. that’s simultaneously battling Covid-19. While David and others are often in peril, the final act, during which he tries infiltrating a secure lab, is particularly exciting. Despite copious references to earlier installments, this engaging book will appeal to new and returning readers alike.
A fast-paced, riveting, medically driven tale. (dedication, author's notes, acknowledgements, author bio)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-9907597-6-8
Page Count: 316
Publisher: White Light Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The youngest Ryans will please fans of the genre.
The U.S. president’s son lands in the middle of a West African coup in this latest Clancy thriller.
Kyle Ryan is part of a three-man Defense Intelligence Agency team covertly installing cyber communications in Luanda, Angola. His two colleagues are murdered, and he must “run or die.” The Naval Academy grad isn’t a warrior like his older brother, Jack Junior, who sits out this story. President Ryan doesn’t even know his son is in Africa, let alone how much trouble Kyle is in. Then the unit of Navy Lieutenant Commander (and big sister) Katie Ryan gets the call to rescue Americans as an Angolan man, Victor Baptista, tries to overthrow the current democratically elected president. “Fear was the most powerful weapon in Angola,” and Baptista inspires a great deal of it. Too bad for him that the Ryan family never knuckles under to fear. Captured, hooded, and in danger of execution, Kyle has a steadfast bravery that reflects the Ryan DNA. Baptista doesn’t realize at first that among his American prisoners is President Ryan’s son. Oops. Well, with U.S. warships fast approaching Angolan shores, he thinks he can strike a deal with the “fickle and feckless Americans.” A more tuned-in advisor lets Baptista know that President Ryan will never negotiate, even with his son’s life on the line. So this isn’t just the United States the terrorist is dealing with, but the Ryan family. Katie and Kyle use their intelligence, not brute force, while a pissed-off papa bear wields his awesome executive power from the White House. Meanwhile, Baptista’s murderous cruelty leaves his aides and lackeys trembling in fear. This novel looks like Katie and Kyle’s debuts as central characters, and they are Ryans through and through—they run toward trouble, and they have no faults worth mentioning. Parental and filial loyalty mix well with the action and add interest to an otherwise standard (but good) Clancy thriller.
The youngest Ryans will please fans of the genre.Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2025
ISBN: 9780593718063
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A woman-in-peril page-turner that ambitiously explores the opposing philosophies of the characters.
A woman survives a mass shooting only to find herself forced to participate in a terrorist plot in Isenthal’s thriller debut.
An abandoned, alienated, hate-filled delinquent has a chance encounter with Flynn, a pretty waitress, who becomes the first person to ever show him kindness and respect. Ten years later, Flynn is a recruiter for the prominent Chicago-based telecommunications and technology giant Magnetic. Despite her successful and attractive exterior, Flynn empathizes with outcasts and misfits while remaining aloof to the starchy corporate organization men who insistently hit on her. Forced into an outing at Wrigley Field with co-workers, Flynn is caught in a horrific mass shooting and paramilitary attack by REDS, a vast underground conspiracy of mass murdering Nietzschean fanatics dedicated to the fall of society. (REDS is not depicted as absurdist or funny, though the group is amusingly untraceable by law enforcement.) Flynn is about to be killed by a REDS gunman when the shooter recognizes her—he is the same angry lad from 10 years earlier, taken in and groomed by REDS and renamed Wolf. Instantly smitten, Wolf violates REDS protocols and abducts Flynn, convincing his superiors that the traumatized woman must be kept alive as an asset to get Wolf hired by Magnetic and enable him to wreak epic havoc from within. The author consulted with experts on hate groups and extremism, and there are many dialogues between the virtuous heroine and her terrorist admirer about the ethics and merits of their separate worldviews (“Wake up, Flynn. You can’t solve this by sitting around in a circle holding hands and singing ‘Kumbaya.’ It’s about time you come to terms with the fact that at the core, everyone is the same. They’re all selfish assholes”). The body count escalates beyond what readers may expect, and the politically inclined may be frustrated by the fact that REDS is not defined explicitly as either right-wing or left-wing, but that ambiguity may be explored in a future book, as a cliffhanger ending leaves things wide open for a sequel.
A woman-in-peril page-turner that ambitiously explores the opposing philosophies of the characters.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 979-8886450880
Page Count: 328
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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