SKYSTORM

An ex–CIA operative and his family are targeted by a seemingly unstoppable team of killers.

A brief teaser prologue finds action hero Ryan Decker facing down an armed mercenary. Just three days earlier, the scene at the Decker home is idyllic. Ryan banters with his dad, Steven, while his mother, Audrey, is out and about. As Ryan’s partner, Harlow, discusses domestic issues, Ryan’s teenage daughter, Riley, heads off to school with her bodyguard, Brooklyn, an ex–Israeli soldier studying for her PI license. Outside the family circle, turmoil is brewing, and the nefarious group APEX has either been wiped out or is lying low. In a mere 30 pages, Konkoly takes his story to half a dozen locations and introduces more than a dozen additional characters without descriptions or identifiable personalities. There’s a plane attack, a failed Mission: Impossible–type caper, and much talk of dangerous missions, “housecleaning,” and more destruction planned by the APEX Institute, whose latest deadly plot is named SKYSTORM. Readers new to the series who are enjoying Konkoly’s punchy prose and rat-a-tat dialogue should persevere; veterans will recall roots of the backstories in Ryan’s three previous adventures. When the sprawling first act ends, the tale settles into a sleek action thriller, long on narrow escapes and authoritative descriptions of weaponry. Pursuit and attack begin at Riley’s school, which APEX has infiltrated. Ryan’s prickly pal Pam, prominent in previous yarns, joins the good guys just in time to help with the heavy shooting.

Explosive action, a breakneck pace, and zippy dialogue. Next!