Firefly

August 6, 2018
In this impressive if flawed thriller from British author Porter (The Bell Ringers), Luc Samson, an ex-MI6 agent hired by his former employer, tries to locate 13-year-old Naji Touma, who has fled his native Syria for Germany to reunite with his family. Authorities suspect that the boy, recruited against his will into ISIS for his technological skills, managed to encrypt a wealth of secret ISIS data on his cellphone, including hundreds of videos showing ISIS leader Al-munajil (aka the Machete) decapitating innocent Syrians. That last fact hasn’t escaped the notice of Al-munajil, who has set out with a handful of henchmen to get to Naji and his phone before Samson does. Porter excels at describing the life of trekking migrants and the atmosphere in the camps of Greece. The plot, however, sags from inaction as Naji makes his way across Southern Europe and his pursuers try to stay close. A lively ending helps, but many readers may have grown frustrated by then. Still, fans of Porter’s previous books will find much to admire. Agent: Emma Parry, Janklow & Nesbit.

July 1, 2018

After having failed to find and rescue billionaire Denis Hisami's sister, murdered in Syria by Islamic State terrorists, Luc Samson, a Lebanese-born security agent, is asked by British intelligence (MI6) to trace the whereabouts of 13-year-old Naji, known to have been under ISIS tutelage. Naji may have witnessed the murder of Hisami's sister, but the Brits want him for the digital archives he stole from his masters. Codenamed "Firefly," the highly intelligent and plucky teen has assumed responsibility for his fatherless family and is on his way from Syria to Germany to seek asylum for them all. Shipwrecked near Greece, he makes his way north into Macedonia traveling on foot through perilous terrain with numerous adventures, all the while pursued by Samson and ISIS killers who are after the stolen files. VERDICT Porter's sixth thriller (after The Bell Ringers), with its plethora of coincidences, requires a willing suspension of disbelief, but the reward is a dramatic portrayal of the difficulties faced by child refugees. Naji and Samson's interlaced histories will appeal to readers who enjoy thrillers enriched with social and political issues and driven by suspenseful episodes of flight and pursuit.--Ron Terpening, formerly with Univ. of Arizona, Tucson

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2018
Naji Touma, barely in his teens, has found a way to make money that will enable his unlucky family to flee Turkey. He repairs cellphones. From a phone belonging to one of his clients, a purely evil ISIS terrorist, Naji learns of horrors the monster has committed. And the phone reveals his plans for more. This makes the boy a person of extreme interest to the terrorist cell when he sets out for a better life in Europe. As the killers pursue the "spy boy from hell" to kill him, news of his special knowledge reaches the intelligence services, and their hired people-finder, PI Luc Samson, begins a search of his own. Who will find the boy first? That's the premise that drives the intricate machinery of this novel, which alternates bravura passages and sludgy sequences that can leave readers feeling they're forging through the same chapter over and over. It all comes together in the last 50 pages, which are distinguished by fine writing, rousing action, and an especially haunting confrontation with "the results of pure evil."(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)