The Kill List

June 17, 2013
This subpar war-on-terror thriller from Diamond Dagger Award–winner Forsyth, with its unknowable outcome, offers less suspense than his Edgar-winning debut, The Day of the Jackal, where the ending is never in doubt. A Muslim extremist, known only as the Preacher, is spreading the message of violent jihad via English-language videos, and his acolytes have begun targeting public officials in the U.S. and the U.K. The job of stopping him falls to Kit Carson, an ex-Marine now part of a super-secret agency in Virginia called Technical Operations Support Activity. Carson, who’s known as the Tracker, assembles an assortment of allies straight out of a Mission Impossible script, including a reclusive teenager who’s a master hacker employed to trace the Preacher. Some readers will wonder why Forsyth bothered to give Carson a personal incentive to complete the mission. Others will find a lack of memorable characters an obstacle to genuine engagement. Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Literary Agency.

This cutting-edge thriller features a real U.S. agency known as TOSA, Technical Operations Support Activity, with a real "kill list." A TOSA agent identified as "the Tracker" is told to find and kill an Arab jihadist known as "the Preacher." George Guidall's masterful delivery captures the escalating tension as well as the international danger and intrigue as the two lead characters move from Washington, D.C., to Mogadishu, with many stops in between. Guidall perfectly renders simple character sketches key players: a neurotic teen computer ace who discerns the computer trail the Preacher leaves behind, support teams of Israeli operatives, and a lethal assault team from Britain. Guidall's narration of the behind-the-scenes manipulations will engage listeners to the climactic finish. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine