A nonstop tale of intrigue and mystery that will leave readers eager for future installments.
In Nelson’s geopolitical thriller series entry, three Americans continue their fight against international terrorism as part of secret spy organization.
In this sequel to The Saudi Oil Gambit (2021), the I.N.C.I.S.O.R. (INternational CIvilians for a Safe society ORganization) antiterror team is back. Reggie Nelson, a dentist turned secret agent, successfully executed a plan called Project Loudmouth, which involved covertly implanting listening devices into terrorists’ teeth. This captured the attention of the CIA, leading to the formation of the International Civilians for a Safe Society organization. Now living in Dubai, Reggie and his partners, Ash Black and Lance Wood, are targeted by various villains and foreign governments. The tension only grows after a nuclear explosion in Bushehr, Iran, staged to look like an Israeli attack with U.S. support, fuels global tensions. Reggie gets to work inventing a new piece of antiterrorism technology: a miniature GPS device that’s virtually undetectable and only activates when a person is kidnapped. Meanwhile, the anti-Israel Iraqi terrorist group responsible for the atomic attack is determined to start a world war. As they create global chaos, I.N.C.I.S.O.R. tries to stay two steps ahead, rescuing the group’s victims across a slew of countries: “It was looking like the world was ready for I.N.C.I.S.O.R.,” Reggie narrates. Nelson delivers a smartly balanced mix of history, current events, political science, and advanced technology. The novel also offers vivid descriptions of Middle Eastern towns, and frequently place readers on the front line of the action as I.N.C.I.S.O.R. agents see sights that are usually reserved for those with top clearance. The author’s political and military expertise shines through, as well, as the narrative grapples with real-life conflicts in various locales, all while maintaining a quick pace and explaining important details in simple, straightforward prose. Fans of Tom Clancy novels, in particular, will find it hard to put this book down.
A nonstop tale of intrigue and mystery that will leave readers eager for future installments.Pub Date: July 21, 2021
ISBN: 9781647538682
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Urlink Print & Media, LLC
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
© 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.
