Inside Man

Starred review from May 5, 2014
Thriller Award–winner Abbott draws on Shakespeare’s King Lear for his outstanding fourth Sam Capra novel (after 2013’s Downfall). When Steve Robles, an old friend of Sam’s, is shot dead outside the Miami bar that Sam runs, Sam, a former CIA agent, resolves to find Steve’s killer. Under the name Sam Chevalier, Sam goes “inside” the luxurious Varela family compound in Puerto Rico, where Steve was working a security job for frightened Cordelia Varela. Meanwhile, Cordelia’s father, patriarch Rey Varela, is dividing his shipping empire—which is not entirely legitimate—among his three children, playing one against the other. Sam breaks laws to serve the good and rescue the innocent, while resisting Rey’s efforts to sweep him into a nefarious international scheme. Abbott injects enough of Sam’s back story to make his intricate plot believable, judiciously spices his tale with tasteful but usually interrupted romance, and convincingly makes Sam a genuine contemporary “chevalier.” Agent: Peter Ginsberg, Curtis Brown.

Abbott's(Downfall, 2013, etc.) hip young ex-CIA spy Sam Capra tangles withinternational smugglers in this fast-moving but ultimately far-fetchedthriller.Sam's quiet life running a Miami Beach bar is interrupted when his close friendand co-worker Steve Robles is murdered, just after a meeting with a mysteriouswoman. After chasing down the killers, Sam identifies the woman asCordelia, the charity-minded heiress of the mega-wealthy Varela family.Cordelia's name is one of a few intentional parallels to Shakespeare's KingLear. Patriarch Rey Varela is losing his faculties, and a mortal familybattle is under way over the future of his shipping business. Looking to avengehis friend, Sam poses as Cordelia's boyfriend and slips inside the familycircle, meeting insecure and ambitious son Galo and beautiful, ruthlessstepdaughter Zhanna. He soon discovers the dark side of the familybusiness. It's hard to overlook the implausibility of many plot turns, especially during the book's climax, when two characters thought dead areresurrected. Using only a book and a pencil, Sam overpowers his captors at amaximum security prison after they inexplicably allow him a one-on-one meetingwithout tying him down. And he somehow gets himself and other escapees rescuedwith a single phone call from the deep jungles of Brazil, when none of themhave any idea of their location.Add in the multiple brushes with gunfire he survives while unarmed and the runhe makes without harm through a minefield, and Capra may be the one of theluckiest sleuths in literature. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 15, 2014

The fourth thriller in Abbott's Sam Capra series (Adrenaline; The Last Minute; Downfall) starts with the murder of Sam's friend, Steve, a security agent employed by Cordelia Varela to trace $10 million in cash that her father, sole owner of a global transportation company, had offered to her charity. As in Shakespeare's King Lear, the crusty old man, Rey (King) Varela (note the jumbled acronym in the last four letters) is fading fast. Aided by his blind assistant, Kent, he intends to divide his Miami-based empire between Cordelia, Galo (her older half brother), and their stepsister, Zhanna. Another son, Edwin, kidnapped several years earlier, is presumed dead. Sam, an ex-CIA special projects man himself, makes his way into this maze seeking both to help Cordelia and avenge Steve's death. VERDICT Series fans will overlook the occasional awkward prose, the world-weariness of the 26-year-old protagonist, the mistaken allusions tied to the overriding theme of a labyrinth (where twice Perseus, rather than Theseus, is said to have killed the Minotaur), and the sketchy descriptions (favorite adjectives include "nice," "stunning," and "striking"), but others may find it a slow go until Abbott hits his stride a third of the way in. Then the pace picks up, intriguing complications ensue, and the action leads to a terrific conclusion. [See Prepub Alert, 1/10/14.]--Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2014
Sam Capra, former CIA operative, is enjoying life as a bar owner in Coconut Grove when a spook from his past appearsand is promptly killed. Sam befriends the dead man's client, the beautiful Cordelia, as the first step in avenging the murder. They move through Miami's gangster-tinged nightlife, and Sam learns why Cordelia needed protection. She's a member of a particularly cruel crime family. Sam gets invited to their San Juan estate, and the novel becomes a long family dinner, with semi-senile Dad, quarreling brothers, a bitter half sister, and more. Readers who believe crime originates in family pathology might like this development. Others will shudder when they see there are 200 pages to go. But the plot shapes up into chases, fights, and betrayals, allowing time for readers to notice that the father is named Reyes (i.e., King), his adviser is Kent, the snarky daughter is Cordelia, and the banished brother is Edwin. Subtext or in-joke? Whichever, it's another slowing device in a narrative that reveals its secrets at its own pace. Not up to the standard of Abbott's previous high-energy thrillers, but entertaining all the same.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)