Ricciardi's hero is a killer thriller fans will root for.
CIA hero Jake Keller gets off to a rough start in his fourth fast-moving adventure.
Keller is the only survivor of a mountainside plane crash in the French Alps and barely evades Russian bad guys searching the wreckage of what they hope looks like an accident. But he knows it was no such thing, as someone has been killing off CIA paramilitary officers like him. Now they specifically want to kill Keller, their main obstacle in killing the president when he visits London—which president they mean eventually becomes clear. Keller is the consummate good guy, “a lethal threat to any and all who wished to harm America.” At only 30 years old, he’s already “died” once under the name Zac Miller and is the best at what he does—a “Boy Scout” who “gets his claws into something [and] doesn’t let go,” as one Russian gripes to another. Indeed, he puts a guy’s eye out with his thumb, but it was necessary under the circumstances. But he’s no mindless killing machine—a colleague tells him, “Your compassion is what makes you special.” He’s also blessed with blind luck stretching all the way back to Warning Light (2018). But will he be lucky in love? A CIA woman has the hots for him while he wants to restart his love life with Geneviève, who’s pissed that he hasn’t stayed in touch with her. Of course, he’s been officially dead for two years—let’s see if that excuse flies. Meanwhile, the enemy has a mole in the CIA. And for once, Keller must rely on teamwork to quash the assassination plot. That may even include “working with the woman he loved.” How sweet. Really, he’s a likable character in a profession where people “dance on the razor’s edge for a living.”
Ricciardi's hero is a killer thriller fans will root for.Pub Date: June 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-984804-69-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.
What hasn’t legendary legal eagle Grisham tried yet? How about a thriller about serial kidnapping and international terrorism.
When Paul and Chelsea Tanner disappear during a day trip on their Paris honeymoon, their abductors demand a ransom of $2 million from Chelsea’s wealthy parents, and a few days later the same sum from Paul’s much less well-heeled parents. After orthopedist Lowell Clayburn, Chelsea’s father, ponies up the ransom without breathing a word to the authorities, his daughter is promptly released. But even though Paul’s parents sell their home, liquidate their assets, and borrow money from the Clayburns to meet the kidnappers’ demands, the villains hold on to Paul anyway. Asked whether he’s ever seen such an outcome in a double kidnapping, FBI deputy director Andrew Strong tells Lowell: “No, this is a new one.” But it’s not, as Strong knows all too well; it’s the third such active case, all involving honeymooning couples whose bridegrooms had served in the armed forces. After masterfully drawing readers in with his bare-knuckle account of the Tanners’ abduction and the attempt by their families and the CIA to tell the lies required to keep caring friends and the rapacious press at bay, Grisham effortlessly switches gears to follow CIA agent Rae Claire Russo and Stuart Nash, a former Department of Justice prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay who agrees to marry her so they can serve as bait for the kidnappers, whose motives include justice and revenge as well as cold hard cash. So much for the imprisoned Paul’s wistful reflection that “hopefully, it was only about money.”
The story unfolds so irresistibly that newcomers may think Grisham’s been writing thrillers like this his whole life.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9780385550543
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2026
By turns serious and funny, but never seriously funny.
Britain and the U.S. try to protect their spies, and the Special Relationship feels the strain.
The CIA sends Artemis Aphrodite Procter to become their chief of station in London and help “rebalance things with the Brits.” She accepts the assignment reluctantly, as she’s dismissive of the British in general and London in particular. Told that the city is lovely, she replies that’s the problem. The Brits are pickpockets, she claims, who often do good work but will usually rob Americans blind. Anyway, she prefers to run ops and “likes to get her hands dirty out in the field” and is “a lunatic…[w]ith a stellar reputation.” The first challenge is that the allies have lost four Chinese assets, and now China’s Ministry of State Security Officer Gao Shiyan is in town as part of a trade delegation. Against the Brits’ explicit request not to do so, Procter surprises Gao on a London street and cold pitches him to betray his country. The result is a scene that highlights Procter’s lunacy but not her competence. Read about a “suddenly bald woman with an armpit sprouting breasts” following a collision with an e-bike while she’s wearing a disguise and you might reasonably expect goofiness throughout. Mostly, though, it’s a standard thriller with its share of murders and one spectacular death. Mimir, an intelligence gathering firm, sells intel to various rivals, and the good guys chase a bad guy to nigh-on the Earth’s end—and the novel’s. But at its core, the story is about an old married couple that hasn’t suffered a serious tiff since 1812, and the occasional tensions work themselves out. Procter, who’s had stints in Moscow (Moscow X, 2023) and Afghanistan, maintains a mental “violence jar” to which she contributes every time she resists beating the crap out of an annoying colleague. Even her back displays her dedication when she’s not covered up. Ten tattooed stars stretch from scapula to scapula, each representing a CIA comrade fallen since her days in Afghanistan.
By turns serious and funny, but never seriously funny.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2026
ISBN: 9781324123217
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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