Under Pressure

June 1, 2020
A series of stunningly high-casualty bombings in and around New York City drives the FBI once more to consult pattern-sensitive astrophysicist Lucas Page, whose people skills may need work but are still far better than the bomber's. The first explosion, at a Guggenheim Museum gala for eco-friendly Horizon Dynamics, destroys a billion dollars' worth of art and 702 human beings without bringing down the iconic structure. That's one smart bomb, observes Lucas, who quickly realizes that the weapon was a thermobaric explosion and enlightens Special Agent in Charge Brett Kehoe before the FBI's crack team of investigators armed with endless computing power can do so. A delayed warning letter to a CNN anchor and a rapid succession of later bombings raise urgent questions about whodunit and why. A disconcerting number of the targets seem to be connected to William and Seth Hockney's fraternal and financial partnership, which had recently purchased Horizon Dynamics. But as far as Lucas and Angela Whitaker, the intuitive FBI agent who worked with him in City of Windows (2019), can tell, the Machine Bomber, as the media dub the perp, seems intent on hurting Hockney Worldwide Enterprises instead of helping it. A violent confrontation that doesn't happen to include a bomb kills Kehoe's leading suspect, but Lucas, seriously injured but skeptical as ever, is eager to get back in the hunt even after Kehoe pulls him off it, and his uncanny concentration and tenacity pay off in a gripping denouement. Nonstop thrills, especially for readers who want one last glimpse of New York's landmarks before they're incinerated.

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Starred review from June 22, 2020
In Pobi’s stellar sequel to 2019’s City of Windows, astrophysicist, bestselling author, and former FBI agent Lucas Page, who was severely injured in an accident years earlier and now has a prosthetic arm and leg, reluctantly returns to duty after a thermobaric bomb explodes in Manhattan’s Guggenheim Museum during a private gala, killing more than 700 people with little damage to the building. The alleged bomber sends a manifesto of sorts to news outlets calling for immediate revolution and a rejection of technology. As the bombings continue—and the body count rises—Page uses his unique way of looking at the world in geometric terms to find connections among the targeted sites and victims. Page stands out as a highly unusual lead in a crowded genre, and Pobi combines a razor sharp sense of humor with surgical use of political and social commentary throughout. This is a must for fans of sophisticated crime fiction. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.

June 1, 2020
The first thing one notices upon entering this thrill ride of a novel is not the violence or the characters but the startling, organic language. A rich kid is "the squab of a billionaire," a flossy private bar is a "Disneyland for alcoholics." An explosion lights up a street "in one massive whump of white." It's a number of these deadly explosions throughout New York City, seemingly unrelated and pointless, that bring ex-FBI agent Lucas Page back to work and give author Pobi the chance to construct a kind of "locked world" mystery. There's a classic puzzle at the core of this flamboyant thriller, with clues and misdirection cleverly laid out for Page and the reader to spot and figure out. Or not. A bonus, for those who haven't read City of Windows (2019), is making the acquaintance of the obliquely funny curmudgeon Page, who does go on about the "bonehead bonanza"?aka, the internet?and the world sliding "from postliterate to dumb." Readers who don't find the modern world quite as appalling as Page does can focus, like good armchair detectives, on sussing out how to unlock Pobi's locked world.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2020

Fans of Jeffery Deaver's "Lincoln Rhyme" series will find much to enjoy in this second thriller from Pobi (after City of Windows) featuring astrophysicist, numbers whiz, and sometime FBI consultant Lucas Page. Like Rhyme, Page is handicapped: he lost an eye, arm, and leg to a bomb 10 years ago on an FBI assignment. And like Rhyme, he's a reasoning machine. Give him numbers, and he finds patterns and identifies the anomalies, too, the information that points beyond what's already assumed about the case. Another quirk: on site, Page can go into fugue state and see the event in reverse, the dead coming alive again, the killing agent retreating into its shell. This time, it's a thermobaric bomb blast at the Guggenheim in New York, resulting in 702 people dead with no survivors. More explosions follow, big and small, with no apparent logic. The dead pile up, and not for the first time Page faces death himself. What results is a diverting read, but the plot stretches credibility. There are too many points where it could have gone wrong for the malefactor but doesn't. Still, Page is an appealing hero and the story is filled with action and suspense. VERDICT For lovers of puzzle-solving detective fiction in the style of Kathy Reichs.--David Keymer, Cleveland

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