THE LAST PROTECTOR

Shady characters across the globe seek a piece of powerful technology.

In Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Maxwell White agonizes before contacting journalists to report some unspecified illicit activity connected to the equally shadowy project CONQUEST. He worries most about his son, Clayton, serving in Iraq, whose military career could be destroyed if he were linked to his father’s act. When Lt. Gen. Alexander Hammond, the man behind CONQUEST, learns about Maxwell’s betrayal, he contacts imperious Abelard Krantz, who, making passing reference to Hammond’s daughter, Veronica, as leverage, orders Hammond to have Maxwell killed. In Iraq, Clayton is felled in a suspicious attack but ends up in a German hospital. Six years later, as Alexander Hammond is vice president–elect, Clayton, now important enough to merit a Secret Service detail himself, enjoys a rendezvous with Veronica, now an esteemed archaeologist, at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. Clay’s soul mate works at SkyCU Technology, a Silicon Valley startup that’s developed a sought-after piece of sophisticated technology. Krantz is still vaguely in the picture, and aspiring South African assassin Van Heerden leads a team that targets the lovers. After discovering a clutch of corpses at SkyCU headquarters, Clay goes on the offensive. Gervais’ brisk series kickoff, which jumps around the world, is built on the tension underlying the tenuous alliances among the sort of power-hungry villains who will stop at nothing. Well-modulated action scenes alternate with showdowns that reposition the pawns. It’s all deeply, reassuringly familiar.

A solid if undistinguished action thriller.