All Fall Down

October 12, 2020
After botching what was supposed to be a simple assassination assignment outside Belfast, British operative Max McLean finds himself framed for murder, cut off by his handlers, and forced to go on the run, in Brabazon’s uneven sequel to 2019’s The Break Line. All McLean has to try to get out of his fix is a $100 bill he managed to pry from the dead fingers of the former IRA terrorist he was supposed to kill before someone beat him to it. The word Arkhangel written on the bill convinces McLean that the key to the case lies in the Russian seaport bearing its name—and where McLean spent his early years. After dodging attempts on his life in Paris and Tel Aviv, McLean sneaks his way into the motherland. Well before then, however, this spy thriller has begun to unravel. Improbable characters, principally a whimsical nerd McLean meets in the Paris catacombs, and a belief-straining plot twist involving McLean’s teenage girlfriend, doom the story’s second half. Brabazon writes great action scenes, but he’s not going to move up the ranks with this one. Agent: Karolina Sutton, Curtis Brown (U.K.).

October 15, 2020
Following The Break Line (2019), this second Max McLean thriller starring the chief of the UK's supersecret black-ops team called the Unknown, is framed for murder after a seemingly simple assassination assignment goes bewilderingly off-kilter. Disavowed by his own government, completely separated from his team, and with no one to call for help, Max must stretch himself to the limit if he's going to track down the person responsible. But where do you look for someone who's a master at concealment? Max isn't the first deep-cover agent abandoned by his handlers and forced to go rogue to save his life (Alex Berenson's John Wells has been doing it for years), but he runs that familiar gauntlet with a flair all his own. This is an exciting thriller that delivers well-orchestrated action scenes, nicely realistic dialogue, and fully fleshed characters. Fans of action-oriented intrigue should be lining up to reserve their copies of this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)