Viking Bay

October 27, 2014
The risky exploits that got Kay Hamilton fired from the DEA catch the eye of the mysterious Callahan Group, led by rumpled Thomas Callahan, in Lawson’s well-paced follow-up to 2013’s Rosarito Beach. Lured by a generous salary, Kay helps the Callahan Group broker a deal for U.S. access to lithium deposits, negotiating with an Afghan governor and his beautiful, liberal-minded daughter. But when the deal goes explosively wrong, Kay begins trawling the murky underbelly of the Callahan Group to find out who betrayed them, putting herself and her teenage daughter at risk. Lawson’s knowledge from a career as a senior executive for the U.S. Navy gives muscle to a plot bound by the obscure intentions and covert operations of intelligence work, though the finale reveals the traitor’s rather weak motivations. Kay’s tendency to act before she thinks keeps the plot whizzing along. Some readers may see her as pure male fantasy: a curvy blonde who’s gutsy, irresistible, and sexually free. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Company.

November 1, 2014
The guy hero is back. Cynical. Skeptical. He can beat you up, or draw faster when he can't. Drink you under the table, too. When he meets members of the opposite sex, he muses on their possibilities as bed partners. But in Lawson's fine action thriller, there's one difference: he is a woman. Kay Hamilton is an exDEA agent, canned for killing a few slimewads, never mind due process. Here she's hired by a mysterious Washington outfit that may be working for the president. Or not. Her job is to infiltrate an Afghan family with access to valuable metals and influence them toward Washington. It goes murderously, violently bad, and Kay suspects her elite crowd contains a traitor. The traitor is out to kill her, which leads to a couple of exciting fight scenes. Kay is a great character: smart, tough, and uncompromising. Once she discovers the traitor, she plots an elaborate, humiliating punishment. All in all, this makes for much more compelling reading than if she had been a he. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)