This is standard Clancy fare: If you liked the last one, you’ll like this one. And the next one.
A failed missile test launches the 21st Op-Center adventure created by Clancy and continued by Rovin.
The Chinese test a new Qi-19 hypersonic missile that blows up on the launchpad, and someone must be blamed and pay a heavy price. Gen. Zhou Chang unfairly blames chief aeronautical engineer Dr. Yang Dàyóu and orders him to confess to either carelessness or treason. So Yang is imprisoned and could be executed for an error that the general made. American intelligence gets wind of the failure, and the new president, John Wright, understandably wants to know what happened. He calls in Chase Williams, director of the National Crisis Management Center, aka the Op-Center. Wright wants Williams to assign the Black Wasp team’s Lt. Grace Lee on a solo mission to find out what went wrong with the launch, what the missile’s payload was, and what happened to Yang. Lee is an all-American patriot with Chinese immigrant parents. She can blend right into the Chinese countryside, has a “flair for independent action,” and can kill with anything she can get her hands on. There’s a long buildup to more action as readers learn more about the left-of-center administration and its lack of gravitas. Wright is a “left-of-center superstar [replacing] a right-of-center warhorse,” the more Clancy-ish and therefore sensible President Midkiff. The well-meaning but inexperienced Wright doesn’t ask good questions, the chief of staff is out to get Williams fired, and a couple of staff come across as lightweight flunkies from Hollywood. But Lee is the star of this show as she navigates problems with considerable skill and no gratuitous violence. The plot and characters are what fans will expect, though the Mongolian woman pilot might come as a surprise. The ending suggests unfinished business, so the storyline may continue into another book. The best line: “The Ilyushin Il-76 did not so much land as stop flying.”
This is standard Clancy fare: If you liked the last one, you’ll like this one. And the next one.Pub Date: May 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-2508-6139-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.
Following the mysterious disappearance of his wife, a struggling London novelist journeys to a remote Scottish island to try to get his mojo back—but all, of course, is not what it seems.
Grady Green hits the pinnacle of his publishing career on the same night that his life goes off the rails—first his book lands on the New York Times bestseller list, and then his wife, Abby, goes missing on her way home. A year later, Grady is a mere shadow of his former self: out of money and out of ideas. So, when his agent, Abby’s godmother, suggests that he spend some time on the Isle of Amberly, in a log cabin left to her by one of her writers, it seems as good a plan as any. With free housing for himself and his dog and a beautiful, distraction-free environment, maybe he can finally complete the next novel. But from the very beginning, Grady’s experiences with Amberly seem weird, if not downright ominous: As a visitor, he’s not allowed to bring his car onto the island; the local businesses are only open for a few hours at a time; and there are no birds. At all. Not to mention the skeletal hand he finds buried under the floorboards of the cabin, the creepy harmonica music in the woods, and the occasional sighting of a woman in a red coat who’s a dead ringer for Abby. As Grady falls deeper and deeper into insomnia and alcoholism, he begins to realize his being on the island is no accident—and that should make him very afraid. Through occasional chapters from before Abby’s disappearance, told from her point of view, we learn that Grady is not necessarily a reliable narrator, and the book’s slow unfolding of dread, mystery, and then truth is both creative and well-paced. Every chapter heading is an oxymoron, like the title, reminding us of the contradictions at the heart of every story.
“Nasty little fellows…always get their comeuppance,” a movie character once said. Deeply satisfying.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781250337788
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
A potent and surprising novel by the ever-reliable Crais.
Hired to find the father of celebrity “muffin girl” Traci Beller 10 years after his disappearance, PI Elvis Cole uncovers a nefarious plot that puts his life and those he contacts at risk.
The sweetly likable Traci, now 23, has amassed a huge following with her website, The Baker Next Door, and on social media. Against the advice and self-interest of the people who over-manage her career, she decides to find out what happened to her father. Cole quickly determines that he was last seen at the SurfMutt hamburger stand, where he gave a ride to Anya Given, a troubled 15-year-old whose mother, Sadie, was late in picking her up from the skate park across the street. With the reluctant help of a scattered young woman who used to work at the burger joint, Cole tracks down Anya and Sadie, who is eventually revealed to have a criminal past. For his efforts, he’s jumped by a small gang of men who send him to the hospital with the worst beating of his life. (Asked by a nurse what his name is, the best he can guess is “Los Angeles.”) Still in recovery, Cole and Joe Pike, his ex-Marine partner, trace his attackers to Sadie, with unexpected results. As ever, Crais draws the reader in via his protagonist’s casual, dryly humorous manner and the book’s relaxed ties to classic noir. Slowly but surely, the plot gains intensity and deadly purpose. Just when you think the missing persons case is solved, Crais ratchets things up with a devastating follow-through. This is the L.A. novelist’s 20th Cole mystery, following such efforts as The Watchman (2007) and Racing the Light (2022). It may be his most powerful.
A potent and surprising novel by the ever-reliable Crais.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780525535768
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
