Putin's Gambit

April 3, 2017
In the uneven second collaboration between TV pundit Dobbs and former DEA agent Born (after 2014’s Border War), Vladimir Putin orchestrates an alliance with Islamic State jihadists, whose barbarous acts of terror will serve as a distraction for a Russian military attack on Estonia. Meanwhile, Derek Walsh, a Wall Street currency trader and former Marine, is implicated in a multimillion-dollar transfer to terrorists that destabilizes the stock market. Chased by the FBI and the KGB sleeper agent who framed him, Derek seeks help from his former Marine colleagues: Mike Rosenberg, now a CIA analyst, and Bill Shepherd, a Marine officer stationed in Germany and attached to NATO. Shepherd is coincidentally involved with Fannie Legat, a French Muslim terrorist who disburses the stolen money and accompanies the scouting mission for the Estonian incursion. Such improbable connections strain credulity. Derek’s subplot is a rollicking and tense adventure that recalls the early works of John Grisham, but the invasion story line lacks urgency. Agent: Wayne S. Kabak, WSK Management.