Hard Rain

Starred review from January 18, 2010
Maj. Vin Cooper, a special agent, or “internal affairs cop,” for the United States Air Force office of special investigations, and special agent Anna Masters, who recently broke up with Vin and is now “swinging from the chandelier for some attorney from the JAG corps,” deal with one lethal threat after another in Rollins's rip-roaring third novel to feature the tough, wisecracking Cooper (after The Death Trust
and A Knife Edge
). Vin and Anna have come to Istanbul to investigate the murder of Col. Emmet Portman, the U.S. air attaché to Turkey, who's been chopped into small pieces and laid out like a model airplane kit that requires assembly. As the pair seek answers in Turkey and later Paris and Iraq, they leave behind a lot of bodies, both friend and foe. The convoluted trail leads them to a plot involving many countries, none of which has America's best interests at heart. The exciting, violent ending promises more thrills to come.

February 15, 2010
The gruesome murder of a U.S. attach' in Istanbul pits Special Agent Vin Cooper against the military establishment in this latest thriller from the popular Australian author (The Death Trust, 2007). The meticulous detail at the crime scenethe victim was carefully dismemberedsuggests the work of more than one individual, but matters are complicated further when bones from the first victim turn up at the site of another grisly murder. Forced to work with an ex-girlfriend, stranded in a country where he has to learn the culture, and not knowing whom to trust, Cooper finds himself in way over his head, especially when the possibility of a wide-reaching international conspiracy is revealed. Tense and intriguing from the first page, the novel is driven not only by building suspense but also by a compelling new thriller hero. Cooper shows more personality than either Clancys Jack Ryan or Ludlums Jason Bourne, but he will definitely appeal to their fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)