Ring of Fire

November 28, 2016
Bestseller Taylor’s 11th Pike Logan thriller (after 2016’s The Ghosts of War) serves as a chilling primer for an all-too-feasible terrorist strike. The leak of the confidential offshore-banking Panama Papers reveals a secret shell company financing terrorism and threatens to expose the extralegal counterterrorism organization known as the Taskforce, for which Pike works. Pike’s team must follow the money trail of a wealthy Saudi businessman’s planned succession of attacks, code-named Ring of Fire, to cripple America’s shipping industry. Taylor relies heavily on readers’ familiarity with the main characters, as their backstory is kept to a minimum, but that leaves space for intriguing secondary characters such as a Somali-American sleeper-cell drone pilot and the deadly, but principled, South African mercenary who stalks the terrorists. Pike and his crew have a few too many “just missed ’em” moments and rely on convenient technology for assistance, but the ever-escalating chaos will leave fans breathless for the next installment. Five-city author tour. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune.

January 1, 2017
An elite task force works frantically to prevent the next wave of terrorist attacks.After more than two decades in the military, including a period in the Special Forces, Taylor (Ghosts of War, 2016, etc.) returns with the latest thriller featuring Nephilim "Pike" Logan. On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Dexter Trippler, the owner of a minor airplane maintenance firm, secures his first government contract by using a shell company to bribe the son of an influential Saudi financier. By the end of the day, Trippler is shocked to learn that his Saudi contact is connected to the terrorist attack. This information does not prevent Trippler from building his business and acquiring more government contracts until 15 years later when an illegal data dump (larger than WikiLeaks) threatens to connect Trippler with the Saudi financing of Islamic extremism. To prevent this exposure, Trippler enlists the help of his head of security, Johan van Rensburg, a former Special Forces operator with South Africa's Reconnaissance Commandos. A competent professional with a strict moral code, van Rensburg travels to North Africa and uncovers an international terrorist plot. Pike and his teammates from the Taskforce, an elite off-the-books paramilitary unit, also find their way to North Africa and into the midst of a Saudi-backed Moroccan terrorist cell. Those looking only for action-filled suspense won't be disappointed, but Taylor does expand his story with brief and intriguing discourses on the role of women in combat and whether violence is an intrinsic element of the Islamic faith. A page-turner that's enriched by the author's obvious familiarity with the intricacies of combating 21st-century terrorism.

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Starred review from December 15, 2016
With Taylor's latest Taskforce novel featuring Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill, he has further established himself as an elite military-thriller author. At this point, nobody is better at tackling hardcore action mixed with timely themes. The Taskforce works in secret, assisting with both assessing and eliminating foreign and domestic terrorist threats. This time the Taskforce itself is under threat, when Logan and his team learn that the release of documents called the Panama Papers may expose the organization to the public. It's up to Logan to find the mole and stop the material from getting published. Meanwhile, a threat to national security places the lives of the entire nation at risk from terrorists who have a bold plan to attack on the anniversary of 9/11. Taylor's background in Special Forces gives his story lines authenticity, and his uncanny sense of tomorrow's headlines makes him seem almost psychic. Fine work from a thriller writer at the very top of his game.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

August 1, 2016

A New York Times best-selling author who served for more than 20 years in the U.S. Army, Taylor has been building his Pike Logan series since 2011. Here, hints of a terrorist plot to launch simultaneous attacks across America set Pike and his team into motion.

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