Power Play

June 2, 2014
Early in bestseller Coulter’s smooth, if minimally suspenseful, 18th FBI thriller (after 2013’s Bombshell), Special Agent Davis Sullivan helps thwart a carjacker who’s trying to steal a vehicle from the parking lot of a Washington, D.C., shopping mall. The car’s owner turns out to be Natalie Black, the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, where an unknown enemy has been targeting her (e.g., a Mercedes tried to run her Jaguar off a motorway). Sullivan agrees to protect Natalie, but later switches to guarding her sportswriter daughter, Perry, after someone wrecks her motorcycle. A private security firm takes over Natalie’s security. Meanwhile, psychopath Blessed Blackman escapes from an Atlanta mental institution and goes after married FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock. Blackman and Savich are old foes, but the reason for the attacks on Natalie and Perry remains unclear until the end. The attraction between Sullivan and Perry adds spice. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group.

July 1, 2014
Elite Washingtonians are bedeviled by scandals and murder attempts. Natalie Black's fiance, George McCallum, Viscount Lockenby, was killed in a car accident that the British tabloids are intimating was suicide after Natalie supposedly threw him over. Because her reputation as U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James's must be sterling, her longtime friend Secretary of State Arliss Abbott wants her to resign. But President Thornton Gilbert, also a college friend, continues to back her. When a drug addict tries to steal her car, Natalie fights back with the help of FBI Special Agent Davis Sullivan, who's one of the few people who believe her accounts of attempts to kill her in both England and Washington. Meanwhile, Sullivan's boss, Dillon Savich, and his wife, Lacey Sherlock, have major problems of their own when Blessed Backman, a killer they apprehended, escapes from a mental hospital vowing vengeance. Given Backman's ability to hypnotize most people instantly, his chances seem disconcertingly good. Sullivan finds himself guarding Natalie's daughter, Perry, a sportswriter who's getting threatening messages, perhaps because of her mother's problems. Sullivan certainly enjoys guarding Perry's body, but her longtime friend Day Abbott, who wants to marry her, is much less happy, especially when he's questioned after an attack on them. The special agents must race the clock to halt the murderous attacks before Natalie loses her job or her life. Coulter (The Final Cut, 2013, etc.) introduces new characters to her FBI series, reinforces old ones and provides plenty for them all to do. But the result, however action-packed, is less thrilling than her best.

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July 1, 2014
Natalie Black, U.S. Ambassador to the Court of St. James, is in trouble in more ways than one. She's back at home after a smear campaign blamed her for the death of her British fianc', making her an embarrassment to the president and the secretary of state, both old college friends. And someone is out to kill her. When threats extend to Natalie's daughter, Perry, FBI Special Agent Davis Sullivan goes on guard, with the concurrence of FBI Criminal Apprehension Unit head Dillon Savich, but to the consternation of Perry's would-be fianc', Day Abbott, son of the secretary of state. Meanwhile, Savich and his wife, FBI Agent Lacey Sherlock, are being hunted by a hypnotic psychopathic escapee from a mental hospital who vows to kill them for revenge. With these strong, almost recklessly brave characters, levels of suspense, danger, and adrenaline rise, and a decades-old secret is revealed. Coulter's eighteenth FBI suspense thriller features her trademark brisk style and short chapters, plus a measure of compassion and an eminently satisfying epilogue. Coulter is at the top of her game here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)