David Hagberg is one of my power rotation authors, when it comes out, I get it...political thrillers surrounding his main characters Kirk McGarvey, former shooter and now retired ex-Director of the CIA with a penchant for Voltaire, and his computer whiz buddy, Otto.
Very deep into the night, 2 assassins dressed as North Korean police, step out of the darkness so they are seen on security cameras, kill a high ranking Chinese diplomat, his driver and 2 security guards as he was leaving for a clandestine meeting with the North Korea's Kim Jong Il to discuss nuclear disarmament. The assassins make it onto their departure plane only to have one, the husband of this married killer-for-hire pair, arrested and taken into custody. Obviously, the Chinese think the North Koreans are behind the murder and both armies go on alert with the very real threat of a nuclear confrontation that could lead the world to the brink of world war III.
A North Korean internal security director investigating the crime realizes that North Korea is being set up and must find a way to prove their innocence to China and the world. Problem is, who can he turn to? No one will believe him. In the shadowy world of black ops and spies, Kirk McGarvey has a reputation as a ruthless killer, a cunning strategist, and most importantly, as a man of integrity. Problem is Kirk is retired and teaching Voltaire at a small Florida college. Our intrepid cop smuggles himself out of NKorea and into the US, then walks right up to McGarvey's front door asking for help. McGarvey thinks this guy's hutzpah is proof enough that he might actually be telling the truth and sets out to find out who is behind the killing.
The answer must lie in who has the most to gain (or lose) by a China-NKorea war. Unfortunately, the answer to both questions is the US. The captured assassin, under the influence of brain frying drugs, reveals his contact, a Russian known only as Alexander. This former KGB and Russian mafia honcho is a middleman who hires assassins for unknown 3rd parties; he is an Expediter. The chase is now on to find the wife/killer who got away, sneak in and out of NKorea to question the husband before he becomes a vegetable, find Alexander in order to find out who hired him. Needless to say, there is much hopping back and forth between the US and the far east, borrowing navy assets to get in and out of Japan (which if the Japanese knew about would not be happy campers), shoot outs galore, serious body count, and an ending that leaves open a sequel to continue the search for the real power broker unseen in this book (that may sound like a spoiler, but it really isn't, you can see it coming a mile away).
McGarvey isn't an alpha male, he isn't even an Alpha Male. McGarvey is THE ALPHA MALE. He is one seriously bad dude with an attitude and the inability to stay retired and out of the game. He makes all the right decisions, shoots straight, and is a ruthless killer without remorse. to have a bad guy by his throat and put a bullet in his forehead is nothing for McGarvey....just the guy you'd want as a neighbor. Nothing I read this week will have me moving Hagberg off my power rotation. I just have to wait a year or two to see who is pulling the strings..Hagberg continues his string of novels that move along at a most rapid pace, even if a certain suspension of reality is necessary. I'm not complaining.
Hagberg has another novel due out later in June, although not a Kirk McGarvey story. It's called Burned. I'm number 14 on the queue.
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