It's a test. The
Lost Boys, recruits to ISIS from a reform school in the US, are tasked
with beheading hostages. At least one of them gets a taste for it.
Seeing the performance, senior officers in ISIS realize the potential
of the killers. They're from the US with US passports and can
infiltrate the West easily.
All that stands
between the West and chaos is the Taskforce and Pike Logan's group.
No longer a member of the Taskforce, Logan has his own group headed
by himself and Jennifer, his lover, that finds terrorists on a
for-profit basis.
The book toggles
back and forth between the Taskforce based in Washington and Pike's
group. Because of this split, the action is fragmented. However, it works to increase the tension. Although the fact that there is a
terrorist plot is evident from early in the novel, we don't learn the
target until very late. For me, this detracted somewhat from the
plot, but did keep the suspense high.
The characters are
stereotypes. Pike Logan is the brilliant operative who likes to go it
alone. Jennifer is the beautiful associate. The other members of
Pike's group are strong men with plenty of testosterone. The fact that they
are stereotypes works well in this sort of novel where the focus is
on the action and daring of the characters rather than on character
development.
This is the 8th
Pike Logan novel, but it is perfectly understandable as a standalone
and the author doesn't waste too much time on back story.
If you enjoy a
thriller with current politics as the background, this is a good one.
I received the book
from Penguin Random House for this review.
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