Espionage in Print

February 3, 2012

Alpert, Mark. THE OMEGA THEORY: A Novel. Touchstone. March '12. $14.99. "'The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid. And a child shall lead them.' She smiled. 'That's you, Michael. That's why Brother Cyrus needs you. You're going to help us fulfill the prophecy.' THE OMEGA THEORY opens with media reports that, despite U.S. warnings, Iran has tested a nuclear bomb. But the blast from the device is far different and more dangerous than any previous nuclear weapon. Surveillance instruments show that for one split second an event occurred that had not taken place since the Big Bang fourteen billion years ago. Meanwhile, science historian David Swift and his wife, quantum physicist Monique Reynolds, learn that their autistic son, Michael, has been kidnapped by a militant cult called the True Believers. Michael, a descendant of Albert Einstein, has inherited Einstein's remarkable intelligence and is the only person in the world who knows Einstein's last secret - the Final Theory, a set of equations that could explain all the forces of nature. Only those who understand the key to creation could knowhow to destroy it. The Iranian nuclear blast is a demonstration of this understanding. Soon David and Monique realize their desperate search for Michael is also a desperate race to stop the horrific power of the theory from being unleashed. Joining forces with the FBI agent Lucille Parker, David and Monique race from the Old City of Jerusalem to the deserts of Turkmenistan to rescue Michael and stop the cult's fanatic leader. Their journey proves just how difficult it is to stop those who are willing to die in the name of God."

Cameron, Marc. NATIONAL SECURITY. Pinnacle Books. November '11. $7.99. "They can strike anytime, anywhere. A public landmark. A suburban shopping mall. And now, the human body itself. Three Middle Eastern terrorists have been injected with a biological weapon, human time bombs unleashed on American soil. They are prepared to die. To spread their disease. To annihilate millions. If America hopes to fight this enemy from within, we need a new kind of weapon. Meet Special Agent Jericho Quinn. Air Force veteran. Champion boxer. Trained assassin. Hand-picked for a new global task force that, officially, does not exist, Quinn answers only to the Director of National Intelligence and the U.S. President himself. His methods are as simple, and as brutal, as his codename: The Hammer." Simultaneous release on Audio CD from Blackstone Audio.

Gilstrap, John. THREAT WARNING. Pinnacle Books pbo. July '11. $7.99. "In his most terrifying thriller yet, New York Times bestselling author John Gilstrap exposes the darkest threat to American's freedom, a secret society of merciless killers, watching and waiting to strike... The first victims are random. Ordinary citizens, fired upon at rush hour by unseen assassins. Caught in the crossfire of one of the attacks, rescue specialist Jonathan Grave spies a gunman getting away-with a mother and her young son as hostages. To free them, Grave and his team must enter the dark heart of a nationwide conspiracy. But their search goes beyond the frenzied schemes of a madman's deadly ambitions. This time, it reaches all the way to the highest levels of power..."

Gordon, Howard. GIDEON'S WAR. Pocket Books. October '11. $7.99. "Howard Gordon - the longtime executive producer of the hit TV series 24 - makes his fiction debut with a tale of political intrigue and international terrorism. Gideon Davis has just 48 hours to bring his rogue agent brother in - before a twisted global conspiracy turns deadly. Gideon Davis, whose behind-the-scenes negotiating skills have earned him the role of peacemaker in conflicts around the globe, knows more about hush-hush discussions in Capitol corridors than he does about hand-to-hand combat. But his more practical, tactical skills come into play when he's called on by family friend and government bigwig Earl Parker to chaperone a rogue agent from Southeast Asia to D.C. The agent, Tillman Davis, has promised to turn himself in - but only to his brother, Gideon. Although the two brothers have been estranged for years, Gideon cannot fathom how his brother could have turned into so ruthless a man. But when the plan for Tillman's surrender goes awry and Earl Parker is taken hostage, Gideon is forced to embrace his dark side in order to evade hostile locals in war-torn Mohan to make his way to the Obelisk - the multimillion-dollar, state-of-the-art oil rig that has been seized by terrorists led by Tillman himself. It is with the help of oil rig manager Kate Murphy that Gideon launches an unlikely one-man rescue."

Gordon, Howard. HARD TARGET: A Novel. Touchstone. January '12. $25.99. "From the executive producer of 24 and co-creator of Homeland, the exciting follow-up to GIDEON'S WAR involves a harrowing attempt to stop a homegrown terrorist plot to destroy the U.S. government. Gideon Davis has settled into the quiet life of an academic and is weeks away from being married when he discovers evidence of an impending terrorist attack on U.S. soil. He brings his suspicions to his ex-girlfriend, FBI Agent Nancy Clement, but her bosses are leery of Gideon's source: a meth-head informant affiliated with a white supremacist group. Both Gideon and Nancy become increasingly convinced that a serious plot exists, but their informant is murdered before they can get more details from him. So Gideon enlists his brother, Tillman - newly sprung from prison through a presidential pardon - as an undercover operative to infiltrate a group of white supremacists who may be involved. Eventually, Gideon and Tillman get on the trail of the real conspirators and uncover their audacious plan to eliminate the entire top tier of the U.S. government during a high-value, mass-casualty attack. With only Nancy's support, Gideon and Tillman go rogue to stop the powerful titan behind the conspiracy before the entire government is toppled. With nonstop action and ticking time-bomb suspense, HARD TARGET will keep readers turning pages and their hearts pumping fast."

Graham, Bob. KEYS TO THE KINGDOM. Vanguard Press. July '11. $25.99. "Former Senator John Billington knew writing this New York Times op-ed piece might get him killed... July 6th. The congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks left several secrets unanswered. The top three are Saudi Arabia's full role in the preparation for and the execution of the plot; the Kingdom's willingness and capacity to collaborate in future terrorist actions against the United States; and why this and the prior administration conducted a cover-up that thus far has frustrated finding the answers to the first two questions. Now, there is an even more ominous unknown. Does Saudi Arabia have the bomb?...The United States should take prompt action to prevent this potential conflict from becoming a reality. Shortly after this appears in print, his suspicion comes true: Senator Billington, a co-chair of the 9/11 Congressional Inquiry Commission, is murdered near his Florida home. Sensing the danger he faced before he was murdered, Billington left ex-Special Forces operative Tony Ramos detailed instructions for an investigation into Saudi complicity in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Now Ramos, in conjunction with Billington's daughter Laura, must uncover a shocking international conspiracy linking Saudi Arabia - the Kingdom - to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, in a race against time that will span Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. But will Ramos and his team be able to stop al-Qaeda from unleashing nuclear disaster on American shores and beyond?" Simultaneous release on Audio CD from Tantor Media. Paperback edition. Vanguard Press. January '12. $7.99.

Henshaw, Mark. RED CELL: A Novel. Touchstone. May '12. $24.99. "From the Tom Clancy of a new generation, a debut thriller following two CIA outcasts who must race to stop a secret Chinese weapon that threatens to provoke a world war. After her first assignment in Venezuela goes disastrously awry, rookie case officer Kyra Stryker is brought back to Langley to work in the Red Cell, the CIA's out-of-the-box think tank. There she's paired with Jonathan Burke, a straight-laced analyst who's alienated his colleagues with his unorthodox methods and a knack for always being right, political consequences be damned. When a raid on Chinese spies in Taiwan ends in a shootout, CIA Director Kathy Cooke turns to the Red Cell to figure out why China is ready to invade the island nation without any fear of reprisal from the U.S. Navy. Stryker and Burke's only lead is the top CIA asset in China, codenamed Pioneer. But when Pioneer reports that Chinese security has him under surveillance, Stryker is offered a chance for redemption by extracting him before he's arrested and executed. The answers he holds could mean the difference between peace in the Pacific or an escalating global conflict. From CIA headquarters to the White House to a Navy carrier in the South China Sea, RED CELL takes readers on a whirlwind race against time as Stryker and Burke work to save Pioneer and discover the hidden threat to America's power: China's top secret weapon. CIA analyst and Brigham Young University graduate Mark Henshaw infuses expert knowledge of the intelligence world into his novel to create a fascinating and pulse-pounding read."

Knox, Tom. THE MARKS OF CAIN: A Novel. Viking Press. May '11. $26.95. "THE TERRIFYING SECRET THAT THE NAZIS DISCOVERED , THE CATHOLIC CHURCH REPRESSED, AND A TERRORIST'S MADNESS IS ABOUT TO UNLEASH. When David Martinez receives an ancient map from his dying grandfather, the unanswered questions of his orphaned past begin to reveal themselves. The map leads David into the heart of the Basque mountains, where a genetic curse lies buried - and a frightening secret about the Western world is hidden. Meanwhile, London journalist Simon Quinn is investigating two violent murders. Both victims had once been interred in a top-secret Nazi camp - and both come from the same remote region. From frozen Scottish islands to the Arizona desert, from the graveyards of the Spanish countryside to the heart of colonial Africa, their separate quests will converge to explain the shocking truth of what drives human beings to violence, genocide, and war." Trade paperback edition. Plume Books. August '11. $15.00.

Lynds, Gayle. THE BOOK OF SPIES. St. Martin's Press. April '11. $9.99. "For centuries, emperors, historians, and even the Vatican have tried to locate Ivan the Terrible's magnificent Library of Gold - a long-missing archive containing gold-covered, bejeweled books dating all the way back to the ancient Greeks. Now one of the volumes, The Book of Spies, has surfaced, and along with it the highly secret book club that owns the Library of Gold. They form a cabal of the globe's most powerful men - men who will do anything to achieve their aims and protect their interests. When the CIA discovers a connection between the legendary library and a bank account linked to terrorists, they turn to rare books curator Eva Blake for help. Soon an attempt is made on Eva's life. Determined not only to survive but to uncover the truth, Eva turns to the only person she can trust - Judd Ryder, a former intelligence agent with his own agenda and a troubled past. Together, Judd and Eva embark on an international adventure from London to Rome, Istanbul, and Athens. Somehow they must do what no one else has been able to do - find the library and stay alive."

Reilly, Matthew. SCARECROW RETURNS. Simon & Schuster. January '12. $25.00. "SCARECROW IS BACK AND READY FOR ACTION. Deep in the Arctic, a long-forgotten Soviet military base enshrouds a weapon of unimaginably destructive force - a Cold War doomsday device with the power to obliterate the planet. When a mysterious and brutal terrorist group known as the Army of Thieves seizes control of the remote base and unleashes the weapon upon an unsuspecting world, there is only one team close enough to sabotage them: a ragtag band of Marines and civilians led by Captain Shane Schofield, call sign 'Scarecrow.' Outnumbered, outgunned, and with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance, Scarecrow has only a few short hours to bring down the Army of Thieves - or see the Earth go up in flames. Filled with nonstop action and told in Matthew Reilly's characteristically white-knuckle prose, SCARECROW RETURNS is a work of gripping suspense and complete exhilaration."

Silva, Daniel. PORTRAIT OF A SPY. Harper. July '11. $26.99. "A man with a deep appreciation for all that is beautiful, Gabriel is also an angel of vengeance, an international operative who will stop at nothing to see justice done. Sometimes he must journey far in search of evil. And sometimes evil comes to him. In a dangerous world, one extraordinary woman can mean the difference between life and death.... For Gabriel and his wife, Chiara, it was supposed to be the start of a pleasant weekend in London - a visit to a gallery in St. James's to authenticate a newly discovered painting by Titian, followed by a quiet lunch. But a pair of deadly bombings in Paris and Copenhagen has already marred this autumn day. And while walking toward Covent Garden, Gabriel notices a man he believes is about to carry out a third attack. Before Gabriel can draw his weapon, he is knocked to the pavement and can only watch as the nightmare unfolds. Haunted by his failure to stop the massacre of innocents, Gabriel returns to his isolated cottage on the cliffs of Cornwall, until a summons brings him to Washington and he is drawn into a confrontation with the new face of global terror. At the center of the threat is an American-born cleric in Yemen to whom Allah has granted 'a beautiful and seductive tongue.' A gifted deceiver, who was once a paid CIA asset, the mastermind is plotting a new wave of attacks. Gabriel and his team devise a daring plan to destroy the network of death from the inside, a gambit fraught with risk, both personal and professional. To succeed, Gabriel must reach into his violent past. A woman waits there - a reclusive heiress and art collector who can traverse the murky divide between Islam and the West. She is the daughter of an old enemy, a woman joined to Gabriel by a trail of blood.... Set against the disparate worlds of art and intelligence, PORTRAIT OF A SPY moves swiftly from the corridors of power in Washington to the glamorous auction houses of New York and London to the unforgiving landscape of the Saudi desert. Featuring a climax that will leave readers haunted long after they turn the final page, this deeply entertaining story is also a breathtaking portrait of courage in the face of unspeakable evil - and Daniel Silva's most extraordinary novel to date." Simultaneous release on Audio Cd from HarperAudio. Paperback edition. March '12. $9.99.

Walsh, Michael. SHOCK WARNING. Pinnacle Books pbo. October '11. $7.99. "Countdown To Armageddon. It begins in California with a devastating biological attack - a horrific display of homegrown terror unseen on U.S. soil - just weeks before the presidential election. For the White House, it is a political nightmare, as it threatens to plunge the country into panic and economic chaos. But for the NSA's undercover agent Devlin, it is the ultimate warning. Devlin knows who's behind the mayhem. He knows who controls the media. And he knows that, unless he can stop it, the End of Days begins...on Election Day."

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