The Fourth Horseman

December 14, 2015
In Hagberg’s implausible 18th thriller featuring former CIA director Kirk McGarvey (after 2015’s Retribution), David Haaris, the hate-filled head of the CIA’s Pakistan desk, who was mocked as a schoolboy in England as a “rag head,” plans “to strike a blow against the West that would be worse than a thousand 9/11s.” Haaris begins by taking advantage of a private audience with an old friend, Farid Barazani, the “openly pro-Western new president of Pakistan,” to shoot him dead. Then, disguised, Haaris displays Barazani’s severed head to the crowds gathered near the presidential palace, who call him Messiah, the one who will redeem his country. Alarmed at the risk of loose Pakistani nukes, U.S. president Charlene Miller asks McGarvey to assassinate the man now known as the Messiah. Haaris comes under suspicion remarkably quickly, given his position of trust, and he does a number of things that only validate those concerns about his loyalties. The contrivance at the end will elicit groans and undercuts the intended portrayal of the lead as a skilled operative.

January 1, 2016
A CIA Pakistan expert arrives in that country under disguise and promptly murders the president. He is given the moniker of the Messiah and begins his plans to rain chaos. The president of the U.S. reluctantly hires former CIA head Kirk McGarvey to maintain order and take out this new threat. McGarvey initially refuses, but when a hit squad tries to kill him and someone he cares about, he changes his mind. McGarvey not only has to use his former assets to uncover the truth, but he also must battle his supposed allies. The man he's hunting has high government access and will not hesitate to kill anyone who gets too close. It's a bit of a stretch to have our heroes so quickly identify the Messiah, but that's a nitpick. Hagberg knows how to get the reader to turn the page, and those who enjoy action-oriented spy thrillers involving government insiders will find much to enjoy here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)