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Political

Review

51%

by Henrietta Thornton

Witten, Matt. 51%. April 28, 2026. 364 pages. Level Best Books.

In a nightmare near-future—perhaps the scariest part being that it seems like a logical extension of our present—a system that resembles a combination of the Tea Party’s toxic self reliance, China’s social-credit system, and AI on steroids has taken over the United States. But while tech has changed, human nature hasn’t, and a group of fifty-one percenters, those who owe more than half of their annual income to one of the greedy syndicates now in charge, is ready to escape to Canada and start a revolution. The book meets the group on the brink of escape, when one of them is found dead. Taking up the case is Juke O’Keefe and his crime marketer, Haylee Navarro, with her position necessary because NYPDinc officers must raise the money to investigate any crime they take on—judges and forensic scientists won’t work for free, after all. Complications ensue, not just because Juke cares more about victims than about making money for NYPDinc, but because of divided loyalties on Haylee’s part and the ever-looming threat from syndicate heads who want to use the investigation to find those planning rebellion. Alongside the tech and dictatorship vibes, which are absorbing (albeit terrifying) on their own, are several relationship stories. Even the future is still a small world, and as the stakes increase, both for the murder to be solved and for the revolutionaries-in-waiting to break free, readers are drawn into a compelling, tense and violent struggle for love and what’s right.—Henrietta Thornton

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Review

The Ghost City

by Jeff Ayers

A ruthless billionaire discovers a method of creating more durable concrete, courtesy of an ancient manuscript written by Marco Polo, in Pote’s terrific follow-up to Blood and Treasure. This building material will be necessary for the future construction boom if Shan Zhang and his company succeed. An ecological disaster in Vietnam dries up an entire river, and what treasure hunter and adventurer Ethan Cain doesn’t realize is that this event is only the beginning of Zhang’s plans. An ancient city under the Antarctic ice holds the key to a dangerous technology that Zhang sees as the method to reach his goals, and who cares if Antarctica’s ice disappears in the aftermath? Ethan, with the help of his on-and-off journalist girlfriend, Lana, must work together at the bottom of the world to save millions of lives, even if it means they won’t survive. Pote combines the adventure of a Clive Cussler novel, the special-ops missions of a Brad Thor thriller, and the tech focus of a Tom Clancy story to create a fun and engaging tale. The slow build intensifies, making the last half of the book so gripping that readers will get paper cuts from turning the pages so fast.—Jeff Ayers

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Review

Edge

by Henrietta Thornton

It gets personal for the Chicago PD when an officer’s family member is the latest victim of a lethal new street drug called Edge. Running the case is Harriet, or Harri, Foster, who’s the best kind of police procedural lead: a tough but kind cop with simmering issues. She’s struggling to move on from the death of her son from gun violence and reluctantly getting the help that everyone but her thinks she needs when this perplexing, dangerous case blows up her chance of recovery. We also meet two forces at loggerheads in the community: the Gamon family that has a tight hold on the neighborhood’s drug trade and resulting downstream crime, and pastor Clevon Pope and his wife, Faith, who are trying to be a bright spot in the chaos. Readers will eagerly follow Harri (I put aside almost all of Thanksgiving reading this) as she puts her smarts and grit to work, and will relish the nailbiting ending to this engrossing psychological thriller.

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Review

The Dancing Face

by Henrietta Thornton

The darkness of this novel—which was published in 1997 in Britian but is now seeing its first U.S. publication—is paired with an urgency: things must be made right. The England-based Committee for Reparations to Africa has been “veering between sycophancy and rage according to the circumstances” in persuading the British that African artworks stolen during Colonial rule must be returned. The only result is undisturbed exhibits in British museums, so now Gus, a university professor, has decided to make a statement. In partnership with a steel-willed, rich Nigerian man, Dr. Okigbo, he will steal a mask (one that causes “an aura around his nerves” and “The taste of a smell. A ghost in the mouth”) from a renowned collection. He’ll hold it for a ransom to be paid to Africa, but more to stir political fallout. (It’s better than bombing the museum, his initial idea.) Of course, nothing goes to plan, and while the aftermath gets more twisted and scarier, confounding issues are introduced. The mask should eventually be given up, but not to “some bunch of evil dictators.” It might never be possible to persuade the British to do anything (“Nothing to do with us, old boy”). And are Black English people, such as Gus, authentic enough to be involved in this effort? There’s lots to think about here with characters who shake up assumptions and stereotypes along the way.

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Review

Blood and Treasure

by Jeff Ayers

Pote’s debut thriller mixes the best of Clive Cussler, Tom Clancy, and Dan Brown to weave an unputdownable tale. An incident on the International Space Station leads to more questions than answers and appears to be a prelude to gaining access to a satellite and its tech. Ethan Cain and his team take on big-pocket clients to find hidden treasures and artifacts. Their current client initially had them track down a scroll, and the information revealed on it leads to the location of an ancient weapon hidden for centuries. Evil people and entire governments want to utilize its capabilities, and whoever has this weapon could change the world. Cain learns the coordinates for this device’s underwater hidden location, but when trying to recover it, he watches as a space capsule slams into the water close to them. Inside is an unconscious woman, ejected from the event that occurred onboard the International Space Station. How did she survive, and does she also have an ulterior motive? Pote’s writing captures what makes fans of action-adventure and historical conspiracy thriller writers like Brad Thor and Steve Berry deliver every book. Make this a mandatory addition to your reading pile; you will treasure it forever.

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Review

Ted Bell’s Monarch

by Jeff Ayers

Ted Bell passed away last year, and Ryan Steck (Out for Blood) has continued the series with this terrific entry into the world of Alex Hawke. Hawke wants nothing more than to settle down with his fiancée and son, but a crisis intervenes, and he must become the ruthless spy England needs him to be. A referendum to split Scotland from the United Kingdom is upcoming, and King Charles III mysteriously vanishes while out on a hunt with his friends, baffling his security detail. Hawke and his allies have 72 hours to find the King—the monarchy and the entire United Kingdom will never be the same if they don’t. Of course, there is more in play than the King’s whereabouts, and failure means the toppling of the entire British government. Steck is the perfect author to continue Hawke’s adventures. He channels Ted Bell, creating a story that seems to come from Ted himself. The story is a terrific launch point for newcomers, as Steck brilliantly juggles the details from previous books while not making them seem repetitive. Fans of the series will love seeing their favorite characters back in action, while readers new and old will enjoy this mix of Clive Cussler and James Bond and be eager to see what Steck has in mind next for our hero.

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Review

Hometown Vendetta

by Henrietta Thornton

Small-town struggles meet CIA relentlessness in prolific author Abramson’s latest thriller. It stars two likable protagonists, FBI Special Agent Amberlyn Reiner and Marine Captain Luke Steele. As the book opens, former school psychologist Amberlyn is planning to see her best friend, but plans are derailed when her skills are needed in the investigation of an Oklahoma City bombing-like event. Also entangled is Luke, who’s normally tasked with carrying the nuclear “football” in his role as a military aide to the President, but who is asked to help after he recognizes a connection to his hometown in photos of the event. Amberlyn has been bereaved by the bombing and Luke is loath to return to the town where he was relentlessly bullied, not to mention the high school reunion that will offer valuable investigative opportunities but one for the now-grown bullies to continue their abuse. So neither wants to be there, a feeling that’s more than vindicated by the danger visited on them in the town by the bullies…and perhaps by others. But they also find in the town kindnesses and even a fledgling romance, which entwine well with the criminal side of the story to create a gripping and satisfying series debut.

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Review

The Chaos Agent

by Jeff Ayers

Cort Gentry, the Gray Man; and his girlfriend, Zoya Zakharova, have assumed new identities while trying to live off the grid for a few months. But they can only hide for so long. A colleague of Zoya’s arrives in the Central American town where Cort and Zoya felt safe and asks her help in rescuing a Russian scientist who is one of several engineers and computer experts with targets on their backs. Shortly after the meeting, Cort and Zoya must flee to avoid the weaponized drones and army of killers sent to take them out. One of those soldiers has a past with Cort and a reputation of being as good an assassin as Cort was in his prime. The mayhem grows in intensity as the truth unveils itself; a mystery controller named Cyrus calls all the shots and does not care about any collateral damage. Greaney combines the best of special-ops novels with a dash of James Bond, and though the page length is significant, the story never bores or lags. The Chaos Agent is another winner, and whether you are a fan or new to the Gray Man, this is a blast (no pun intended).

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Review

Dead Man’s Hand

by Jeff Ayers

A secret meeting between a rogue team of Ukranians desperate for peace and military intelligence officers from Russia sparks the chaos in Taylor’s latest Taskforce novel. The plan they concoct involves assassinating Putin, but Putin already knows of their plot. His solution is to have his most trusted officer run a counterattack once he commits an act of violence to keep Sweden from joining NATO. Pike Logan and his Taskforce team learn of the Swedish offensive, and soon, they are wrapped in an operation with massive complications. What they don’t realize is that Putin’s contingency, if he’s killed, involves launching the Perimeter Nuclear System known as the Dead Hand. Logan and his team must confront how someone can be the enemy when they have the same goals. Whether this is your first time with the Taskforce or your eighteenth, this series remains intense, timely, and worthwhile. Taylor is one of the best in the special ops world. Brad Thor and Jack Carr fans should already have Taylor on their mandatory reading list.

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Review

The Secret Hours

by Willy Williams

It’s not all Aston Martin sports cars and martinis (“shaken, not stirred”) In Herron’s (Slow Horses) spy world. The reality is more mundane and bureaucratic in post-Brexit London, where British intelligence services have been the subject of a two-year inquiry, codenamed Monochrome and launched by a vengeful, now ex-prime minister. Thanks to the best efforts of First Desk, the agencies’ top banana, the panel headed by civil servants Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle has been unable to uncover any wrongdoing. But as the probe is about to be shut down, Malcolm mysteriously receives a classified file exposing a long-buried operation in post-Cold War 1994 Berlin that ended in tragedy. How does this connect to a recent botched attack on a retired “joe” in rural Devon? Herron skillfully ties the loose threads together in a satisfying, yet melancholy conclusion that reflects upon the collateral damage caused by betrayals that are the lifeblood of espionage: “The cost of heroism—of betrayal—was high; it was the same cost, seen from opposite sides. And the same cost applied, it seemed, if you were neither hero nor traitor, but simply occupied the same neighbourhood.” Billed as a standalone, this smartly written, funny, and complex thriller is a good introduction for newbies, but fans of Herron’s “Slough House” books will recognize a few crossover characters.

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