A strong hero hasn’t lost his mojo in this welcome return of a thriller series.
In this fourth installment of a thriller series, a former terrorist becomes compelled by shadowy figures to emerge from anonymity to facilitate the “heist of the century.”
After renouncing his past (but still haunted by the deaths in which he played a part), ex-terrorist Pascual Rose has made a concerted effort to live off the grid. But a six-word text message (“Come join us on the terrace”) shatters the nondescript life he lives in Barcelona as a freelance translator with his wife, a popular singer, and son. Two mysterious operatives make him an offer he cannot refuse. He is to lead the efforts in a clandestine operation “for the benefit of parties you may or may not sympathize with, but who pose no direct threat to anything or anyone you hold dear.” For his role in setting up holding companies in strategic locations around the world, he will be paid a million euros. Ironically, Rose’s anonymity is what makes him so valuable: “Pascual Rose disappeared before everything was put on the computer,” he is told. “That means we have a blank slate for creating a digital record of his activity for the last twenty or more years, starting with the irrefutable fact of his existence.” But despite implied threats to his family, Rose cannot just take their money and do the job. He uses his long dormant skills to try to stay one step ahead of his minders. It has been almost two decades since the last Rose thriller. It is not necessary to have read Martell’s previous three books to be swept up in this complex and cunning tale. The dialogue is not just recycled action clichés. When told that he will be traveling first class and will need to expand his wardrobe, Rose remarks, “It’s a costume drama, is it?” “It is. And you’ve got the lead role,” he is told. Less tech-savvy readers will not find the machinations of the operation too daunting. In Rose, they will discover an empathetic hero caught in a precarious struggle to do the right thing and make peace with his past.
A strong hero hasn’t lost his mojo in this welcome return of a thriller series.Pub Date: Oct. 6, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-951938-05-5
Page Count: 358
Publisher: Dunn Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.
Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead.
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757901
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.
Ten years after her teenage daughter went missing, a mother begins a new relationship only to discover she can't truly move on until she answers lingering questions about the past.
Laurel Mack’s life stopped in many ways the day her 15-year-old daughter, Ellie, left the house to study at the library and never returned. She drifted away from her other two children, Hanna and Jake, and eventually she and her husband, Paul, divorced. Ten years later, Ellie’s remains and her backpack are found, though the police are unable to determine the reasons for her disappearance and death. After Ellie’s funeral, Laurel begins a relationship with Floyd, a man she meets in a cafe. She's disarmed by Floyd’s charm, but when she meets his young daughter, Poppy, Laurel is startled by her resemblance to Ellie. As the novel progresses, Laurel becomes increasingly determined to learn what happened to Ellie, especially after discovering an odd connection between Poppy’s mother and her daughter even as her relationship with Floyd is becoming more serious. Jewell’s (I Found You, 2017, etc.) latest thriller moves at a brisk pace even as she plays with narrative structure: The book is split into three sections, including a first one which alternates chapters between the time of Ellie’s disappearance and the present and a second section that begins as Laurel and Floyd meet. Both of these sections primarily focus on Laurel. In the third section, Jewell alternates narrators and moments in time: The narrator switches to alternating first-person points of view (told by Poppy’s mother and Floyd) interspersed with third-person narration of Ellie’s experiences and Laurel’s discoveries in the present. All of these devices serve to build palpable tension, but the structure also contributes to how deeply disturbing the story becomes. At times, the characters and the emotional core of the events are almost obscured by such quick maneuvering through the weighty plot.
Dark and unsettling, this novel’s end arrives abruptly even as readers are still moving at a breakneck speed.Pub Date: April 24, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5464-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2018
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