ON THE HUNT

Johansen’s latest standalone revolves and revolves around a fight over a fabulous treasure that’s personal for everyone involved.

Jack Harlan may be a billionaire who’s won two Nobel Prizes for developing technologies that will help all humanity, but he won’t be happy until he gets revenge on Joseph Taylor, the former Harvard professor who wormed his way into the confidence of Harlan’s brother, Colin, stole his invaluable encryption algorithm, and killed him. Taylor, for his part, won’t rest until he avenges himself on the billionaire, who managed to shoot him in the stomach before he escaped. When Taylor blows up Harlan’s new Parisian museum, Kira Drake and her explosive-sniffing golden retriever, Mack, are called to the scene, and it’s her turn to get drawn into the battle. Instead of resting on her laurels after splitting a fortune she’s discovered with her friend Jabir Kalim, [115] an Egyptian horse breeder, Drake is drawn to Harlan, who wants her to join in his hunt for Taylor. Nesting on a remote island with Harlan—and Colin’s 15-year-old daughter, Fiona, whose loss of her father has given her a personal stake—Drake waits for Taylor to make a move so that she can pounce on him. That’s not exactly how it works out, though, and soon Drake and Taylor have personal motives of their own for getting the best of, humiliating, or killing each other, and incidentally getting control of that treasure. The story is plotted like an upscale video game, with enough violent, high-stakes, low-impact encounters and reversals to make you wonder if you’re ever going to make it to the end, or even to the next level.

A perfectly good time-killer, best for fans who don’t take it too seriously, or even a little seriously.