A sturdy, relentlessly plotted espionage thriller anchored by a riveting, reliable hero.
A threat to humanity awaits a special agent who must use his trademark tactical acumen to thwart it.
In this sequel to his accomplished debut novel, Spider 2-3 (2015), Vallier brings back rugged British army special forces operative Jim “JP” Peregrine, unceremoniously recalled from a well-deserved Caribbean vacation. Peregrine is alerted to more problems following the strenuous defeat of Iranian terrorist Barakah Malekka. Though Malekka’s genocidal Missile Spider 2-3 deployment scenario was stopped, the evildoer managed to evade capture, regroup, and initiate a backup second scheme called “Stingray,” which has already claimed the life of longtime operative Dave Tilsen. “Clearly, the job’s not finished,” Peregrine admits and, without missing a beat, shifts into high gear, investigating the killer behind the agent’s death and deciphering the scrawled message Tilsen left behind. A great race ensues between both sides as they try to retrieve a cellphone micro SD card, which emerges as the key to deploying Malekka’s international espionage plan. This entails a bevy of high-tech intelligence apparatuses like gamma-ray safecracking instruments, complex circuit boards, and an authentic-sounding, sophisticated “NextGen ADS-B” aviation navigation system that Vallier admits is derived from a real-life flight system (the author has a pilot’s license and extensive training). Globe-trotting from London to Rio de Janeiro, Peregrine and his crew struggle to outwit Malekka before it’s too late. In addition to the briskly written action sequences, Vallier excels at minor characterization, as in scenes in which Tilsen’s clever, older mother is interrogated by Malekka’s henchmen or episodes with Peregrine’s motivated, young, covert agents Stephanie Raughton and Anna Kepling. The two operatives not only demonstrate distinct talents for undercover work, but are also undeniably attractive, which they try to use to their advantage, with mixed results. As in his debut, Vallier employs a slick mixture of intrigue, dynamic action, and a complex plot without excessive violence or gore to keep the pages turning. There’s a swift, satisfying conclusion, which, to fans’ benefit, leaves the door open for future adventures.
A sturdy, relentlessly plotted espionage thriller anchored by a riveting, reliable hero.Pub Date: June 28, 2021
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 2, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A fast, fun read for domestic thriller fans.
An amnesia victim has built a near-perfect new life when she runs into someone from her past.
A disheveled, bleeding woman who doesn't know even her own name is picked up hitchhiking on a highway in New Jersey by a kindly trucker. He and his wife become her surrogate parents, helping her manufacture a new identity as Addison Hope. Addison soon meets Gabriel, a wonderful young man from the Philadelphia Main Line who is so smitten he ends a yearslong relationship with another woman and proposes. Gabriel's mother, Blythe, isn't ready to pop the champagne, though—she wants to know who this girl really is. In truth, Addison feels the same reservations. Meanwhile, up in Boston, a handsome psychiatrist named Julian is caring for his 7-year-old daughter on his own after his wife disappeared two years earlier. Could it be...? In their fifth outing, the sisters who write as Constantine have cooked up another plot involving people with hidden identities—and it works well to embed that issue in the head of the protagonist, who doesn't know herself or anyone else from her past. The plot is twisty but not excessively so—it's the kind where an experienced reader can enjoy staying a few steps ahead of the reveals rather than the kind where the answers are obvious too early or are based on too many late-breaking details. Like most of Constantine's work, including fan favorite The Last Mrs. Parrish (2017), this one is set in the lap of luxury, this time a bit stripped down: fewer ritzy locations and rich-people caricatures, a bit less wealth porn. Still, Gabriel's country-club-snob mother is one of the best characters, and one of several wine recommendations is slipped in as the villain is about to enter his secret den of psychosis: "I have the house to myself overnight for the first time that I remember, and have decided to open the Odette Estate Reserve...."
A fast, fun read for domestic thriller fans.Pub Date: July 6, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-296732-9
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2021
Readers may wish to tackle this heart-pounding novel in highly populated, well-lit areas—snacks optional.
Some thrillers produce shivers, others trigger goose bumps; Cutter’s graphic offering will have readers jumping out of their skins.
Scoutmaster Dr. Tim Riggs takes his troop for their annual camping trip to Falstaff Island, an uninhabited area not far from their home on Prince Edward Island. The five 14-year-old boys who comprise Troop 52 are a diverse group: popular school jock, Kent, whose father is the chief of police; best friends Ephraim and Max, one the son of a petty thief who’s serving time in prison and the other the son of the coroner who also serves as the local taxidermist; Shelley, an odd loner with a creepy proclivity for animal torture and touching girls’ hair; and Newton, the overweight nerdy kid who’s the butt of the other boys’ jokes. When a skeletal, voracious, obviously ill man shows up on the island the first night of their trip, Tim’s efforts to assist him unleash a series of events which the author describes in gruesome, deliciously gory detail. Tom Padgett is the subject of a scientific test gone horribly wrong, or so it seems, and soon, the Scouts face a nightmare that worms its way into the group and wreaks every kind of havoc imaginable. With no way to leave the island (the boat Tom arrived on is disabled, and the troop was dropped off by a different boat), the boys fight to survive. Cutter’s narrative of unfolding events on the island is supplemented with well-placed interviews, pages from diaries, and magazine and newspaper articles, which provide answers to the reader in bits and pieces—but perhaps more importantly, it also delivers much-needed respites from the intense narrative as the boys battle for their lives on the island. Cutter (who created this work under a pseudonym) packs a powerful punch by plunging readers into gut-wrenching, explicit imagery that’s not for the faint of heart or the weak of stomach.
Readers may wish to tackle this heart-pounding novel in highly populated, well-lit areas—snacks optional.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-1771-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 17, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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