Strains credulity but offers pure escapism to fans of “U.S. of A. ass kicking.”
In this third installment of a thriller series, the intrepid men and women of an international group become targets of the head of a notorious Mexican gang as well as Iraqi terrorists.
After inventing passive tracking and listening devices, Dr. Reginald Nelson is ready to take a more active assault on terrorism around the world on behalf of the International Citizens for a Safe Society Organization, or I.N.C.I.S.O.R. He has determined that a proper radio wave frequency can excite butane and set off C4 as if a detonator had been used, meaning that piles of explosives sitting in developing countries can be set off remotely. “That will set the terrorist trade back several decades!” declares Reggie’s partner, Ash Black. It also sets off Iraqi terrorist Achmed, who, after the civilians he has been using as human shields rebel, turns to the Russians to help him exact revenge. On a parallel front, a branch of I.N.C.I.S.O.R. steps in when Melania Cruz, who heads the most famous Mexican gang in Denver, is freed enroute to “the highest security prison in the country.” When most of her gang is wiped out by members of the branch, she declares: “I want them dead!” Meanwhile, in Italy, the organization steps in to rescue Marta Fascina (jarringly, an actual person), the domestic partner of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is among the top 200 richest people in the world. There is a whole lot to unpack in this latest installment of Nelson’s series. The location jumps—Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands; Denver; Dubai; Washington, D.C.; Frankfurt, Germany; Langley; Moscow; and Syria, among others—suggest a frantic pace. But many stops are unnecessary digressions that only bring the proceedings to a halt, as when, early on in Saipan, Reggie and Ash agree to spend the rest of their day going for a jog on the beach and then dining on sushi. Soon after, Reggie repeatedly teases vital information as to his and Ash’s real mission in Saipan, but he frustratingly keeps putting off relaying it (“Let’s eat and then we can talk”). Still, the author does keep readers off balance by being willing to kill off leading characters, lending a real sense of danger to the proceedings.
Strains credulity but offers pure escapism to fans of “U.S. of A. ass kicking.”Pub Date: March 31, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-68486-147-7
Page Count: 468
Publisher: Urlink Print & Media, LLC
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2022
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
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.
A medical student is assigned an overnight shift to observe a Long Island hospital’s psychiatric ward and help with emergencies. You’d never guess what happens next.
Amy Brenner isn’t even interested in psychiatry, the one medical specialty she’s never considered for her own career. Nor is she interested any more in Cameron Berger, the classmate who ended their relationship so that he could spend more time studying, and she’s not pleased to learn that he’s switched his rotation with another student so he can spend some of the next 13 hours persuading Amy to rekindle their romance. Predictably, Cam will be the least of Amy’s troubles. Apart from Dr. Richard Beck and nurse Ramona Dutton, everyone else on Ward D is much more dangerous, from elderly Mary Cummings, whose knitting needles aren’t plastic but sharpened steel, to William Schoenfeld, who’s stopped taking the medications that were supposed to silence the voices telling him to kill people, to Damon Sawyer, who’s confined in Seclusion One and can’t possibly escape, unless a power outage neutralizes the locks. Most threatening of all is Jade Carpenter, whose close friendship with Amy ended eight years ago when Amy turned her in for what ended up being only one of a whole series of thrill crimes. McFadden measures out the complications, revelations, and betrayals with such an expert hand that readers anxiously trying to figure out whom Amy can trust as her goal shifts from ticking off a toilsome requirement to surviving the night may well end up wondering whom they can trust themselves. And isn’t provoking that kind of paranoia what medical thrillers are all about?
A superior entry in the night-on-the-nightmare-ward genre.Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227271
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 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.
