THE SYNDICATE SPY

This debut novel pits an Army Ranger–turned-spy against a terrorist organization bent on destroying alternative energy sites.

Set in a near future when the planet’s oil reserves are essentially gone—and former oil-rich nations are desperate to regain their power on the world stage—the story revolves around Juliet Arroway. She’s an operative for the Syndicate, a partnership of intelligence agencies whose mission is to hunt down and eradicate energy terrorists. Arroway’s main goal is to stop the mysterious Abu Hassan, the head of a terrorist group that has been responsible for the deaths of countless people over the years—including her father. With the help of her longtime partner and friend Mariam al-Saud (who happens to be the estranged daughter of the king of Saudi Arabia) and cocky FBI agent Graham Harding, Arroway slowly uncovers the complicated motivations behind the attacks. Early on, Harding tells her: “If I were you, I would go into this investigation with an open mind.” She eventually finds that the conspiracy goes much deeper than a group of misguided jihadis seeking to establish an Islamic caliphate. Butler obviously understands what thriller fans want in a story. The action is nonstop, the pacing is relentless, and the bombshell plot twists are numerous—but it’s the brilliantly developed characters that power this narrative. In this series opener, Arroway is a badass in every sense of the word, but she also has an impressive emotional depth and a vulnerability underneath her tough exterior that make her relatable. Her tumultuous relationship with Harding, for example, is more intimate than any romance and more arousing than any work of erotic fiction. But perhaps the understated hook in all of this is the author’s vivid writing style, which makes characters and scenes come alive on the page. As Arroway and Harding are evacuated from a horrific battle scene, Butler writes: “Fragments of light grew into thick saffron beams as they glided above the smoke-filled cities below.”

A storytelling tour de force—this espionage thriller delivers the goods in a big way.