Domestic drama meets domestic terrorism. As one of the several criminal masterminds puts it, “What is this, a comic book?”
New York D.A. Butch Karp and his cast of regulars continue their inflationary spiral in a tale that combines a trial for murder with an attempt to thwart yet another terrorist plot.
All the evidence shows that after luring Gail Perez up to his penthouse hotel room with the promise of a juicy role, Broadway producer F. Lloyd Maplethorpe shot her to death when she didn’t come up with a quid pro quo. But all the evidence wasn’t enough for ADA Stewart Reed to convict Maplethorpe the first time around. Shortly after a meeting in which he urges Stewbie to adopt a less-is-more prosecution, Butch learns that his colleague has hanged himself—unless of course he had help—and decides to retry the case himself. Maybe it’ll keep his mind off the quadrilateral duel among Andrew Kane, the sociopathic terrorist risen from the grave to plan a fiendish new strike on New York City; David Grale, the equally indestructible lunatic who rules the Big Apple’s sewer system; the Sons of Man, a cadre of well-heeled right-wing zealots determined to seize unprecedented constitutional powers by blaming Iran for the impending outrage; and the ragtag counterterrorists, including Karp’s daughter Lucy, under the direction of FBI agent S.P. Jaxon. On the one side is the world’s simplest criminal proceeding, on the other an epic stew of double agents, double-crosses and slam-bang action, with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance. Tanenbaum cuts back and forth between the two stories as if they were equally weighty—and in a way they are, because each one is headed toward an absolutely forgone conclusion. “Are we stuck on this counterterrorism carrousel the rest of our lives?” wonders Lucy. Apparently so, since her author isn’t willing to write finis to any of the continuing plotlines that have increasingly encrusted his recent work (Fury, 2005, etc.).
Domestic drama meets domestic terrorism. As one of the several criminal masterminds puts it, “What is this, a comic book?”Pub Date: June 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4391-4860-0
Page Count: 438
Publisher: Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2009
Twisty and propulsive.
A first date takes a sinister turn for a troubled young woman in Walker’s third psychological thriller.
It’s the day after Laura Lochner’s date with a man she met online, and she hasn’t returned to the Connecticut home of her sister, Rosie, her brother-in-law, Joe, and their little boy, Mason, where she’s been staying after a bad breakup. Rosie fears the worst, but Joe advises caution. After all, Laura is an adult and can have some fun, right? But Rosie has a bad feeling. Laura won’t answer her phone, and Rosie only has more questions after poking around online for info on Laura’s date, Jonathan Fields. Rosie eventually calls the police, and events begin to cascade like dominoes. Interspersed with Rosie’s attempt to trace Laura’s movements and get a handle on the guy she went out with is Laura’s first-person account of the actual date as well as enlightening snippets of sessions between Laura and her therapist. Laura’s is the most compelling part—a tormented, often prickly piece of storytelling by a woman carrying the pain of a horrible event that happened in high school and feelings of abandonment by a father who always seemed to love Rosie more. Laura’s desire to be loved is all-consuming, but her conviction that she is not worthy of love is heartbreaking. She sees subterfuge in nearly everything Jonathan says and does. Meanwhile, Rosie must come to terms with some ugly surprises of her own as she digs into their past. As the timelines inevitably converge, Walker’s clever misdirection paves the way to a truly chilling finale, and she has plenty of insightful things to say about the blame placed on women by society and themselves for the idiotic, careless, and sometimes downright evil things men do.
Twisty and propulsive.Pub Date: May 14, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19867-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
A page-turner with the kind of small details that lend unquestionable authenticity.
A spy dealing with personal trauma is called back into action to stop the use of a dangerous chemical weapon.
A former Army helicopter pilot and FBI special agent, Bentley delivers his debut novel with the introduction of Defense Intelligence Agent Matt Drake. After an op in Syria went sideways and his best friend was maimed, Drake walked away carrying heavy emotional baggage. Haunted by those he couldn’t save and in self-imposed exile from his wife in order to protect her, Matt wants nothing to do with his old life at the Defense Intelligence Agency. But when he's brought back under duress to help stop terrorists from using an untraceable chemical weapon against Americans, Drake feels a lurking sense of obligation, and before he knows it he's back on duty. The seeming purity of Drake’s call to serve is contrasted with the petty political infighting within the highest reaches of government. A chief of staff for the president is angling to jam a CIA director who has political ambitions of her own, and Drake’s mission falls right in the middle of this elaborate political scheme. While the flow of the story seems most natural during the shoot'em-up action scenes, this is a novel with an emotional core, and that may be what makes it stand out from other thrillers of a similar ilk.
A page-turner with the kind of small details that lend unquestionable authenticity.Pub Date: March 3, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0511-9
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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