Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

An elite U.S. task force tries to prevent North Korea from selling lethal chemical weapons to the Syrian regimeA retired lieutenant colonel whose service included time in special operations with the legendary Delta Force, Taylor (Operator Down, 2018, etc.) clearly has the qualifications to provide a military thriller with realistic details, and he does just that in this latest addition to the Pike Logan series. In this outing, Logan and his team are in Monaco on the trail of what they presume to be a plan by North Korea to sell the Syrians Chinese-hacked data containing the identities of U.S. government employees with security clearances. The assignment becomes convoluted when it turns out that, in fact, North Korea is selling Syria something called Red Mercury, a deadly chemical compound which is both mythical and mysterious. This increasingly intricate mission becomes downright explosive when a Syrian refugee street urchin pickpockets an iPhone X containing data crucial to the pending deal between the Syrians and North Koreans. Logan's team will have to find the phone before a Russian mercenary/mixed martial arts fighter who will stop at nothing to get it back, including killing anyone who gets in his way. Now, throw in a pencil-pushing CIA case officer who makes questionable decisions in handling a crucial Syrian asset along with all the petty personal politics so prevalent even at the highest levels of government and you have the makings of a fast-paced thriller.A believable story with the kind of interesting details that keep the pages turning. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.