Collateral Damage

October 8, 2012
In Woods’s high-octane 25th Stone Barrington thriller, which picks up where 2012’s Severe Clear left off, terrorist Jasmine Shazaz orchestrates a series of bombings designed to avenge her brothers, Ari and Mohammad Shazaz, who met untimely ends in the previous book. Her first salvo, in London, kills the foreign secretary and triggers alarms that have assistant CIA director Holly Barker talking to MI6 head Felicity Devonshire and sharing the suspicion that Jasmine is responsible. The elusive Jasmine escapes capture in London and leaves a trail of carnage before moving to New York City and other targets. Meanwhile, Barrington and Barker continue their affair; Lt. Dino Bachetti and his flame, fellow NYPD officer Viv DeCarlo, play important roles; and series fans will find significant changes marking the lives of several series characters. Woods’s blend of exciting action, sophisticated gadgetry, and last-minute heroics doesn’t disappoint. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit.

November 15, 2012
The sister whose brothers died only weeks earlier in their attempt to plant an atomic bomb in Stone Barrington's new Los Angeles hotel (Severe Clear, 2012) resolves to follow in their footsteps. Jasmine Shazaz doesn't have access to any nuclear devices, but she has serious potential as a vengeful terrorist. When her latest contact tells her, "Welcome to New York....Do you need to sleep?" she replies, "I need to blow up something." That exchange tells you all you need to know about the geopolitical nuances behind Jasmine's vendetta against MI6, the CIA, President Will Lee and his wife, Katharine, director of the CIA, Assistant Director Holly Barker, and especially Holly's frequent lover, Stone Barrington, now a CIA consultant. Starting in London, Jasmine blazes an explosive trail to the New World, making a mockery of the devices and protocols designed to protect England and America from the likes of her. Back in the U.S.A., Katharine Lee's CIA types, long familiar with the Whack-a-Mole approach to containment, agonize over where the unknown terrorist will emerge next, and Holly schemes to keep a lid on Kelli Keane, the Vanity Fair writer who knows a lot more than the American public needs to know about the attempted bombing in LA. All hands take their jobs so seriously that there's hardly any time for on-screen sex, and Stone makes not a single new conquest. But wish-fulfillment fantasies still blossom--Holly gets another promotion; Katharine Lee, her eye on a new plum, plans to resign the CIA directorship; and Stone's best friend, New York cop Dino Bacchetti, proposes marriage--as Jasmine sets her sights on Stone's building in Manhattan's Turtle Bay neighborhood. Agatha Christie's reputation as a puzzle-master survived the long series of spy thrillers that culminated in Passenger to Frankfurt, and Woods will no doubt survive his anti-terrorist confections, along with all his regulars, at least till the inevitable next round.

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November 1, 2012
Picking up where Severe Clear (2012) left off, Stone Barrington and company are trying to keep the news that a nuclear bomb was almost detonated in Los Angeles from the public. As President Will Lee decides what he's going to tell the nation, another threat arises. Jasmine Shazaz, sister of the bomber who almost took out the metropolis, is targeting U.S. dignitaries in London, and it isn't long before she decides to mount a strike on U.S. soil. Holly Barker, an assistant director at the CIA, is tasked with stopping Jasmine, and she enlists Stone to help her out. As the two close in on Jasmine in New York, Jasmine decides to make them her next victims. Woods can be hit-or-miss, but as far as action goes, this latest entry is undoubtedly a hit. It starts off strong and never lets up, building to an exciting showdown. These days, Stone and Holly almost always share the spotlight, and the two make an appealing team. Woods' fans won't want to miss this action-packed thriller. HIGH-DEMAND BACK STORY: With 35 consective hardcovers on the New York Times bestseller list, Woods is ramping up the appeal of his Stone and Holly duo in the latest magnetic installment in this popular series, and a new national tour and topnotch publicity will follow.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)