Then there is the Russian paramilitary organization called the Wagner Group. They take care of things that cannot be traced back to the Kremlin. It’s not populated by stellar examples of the Russian military. They even managed to ‘recruit’ men from high security prisons and asylums. Call them Ravens and that's spelled S-C-U-M. This one group loaded with some of the worst examples of humanity was tasked with finding Ukrainian art works for transport back to Moscow. It's run by a hardass that goes by simple Colonel. Their assignment is pretty tame stuff until they come across a list of irreplaceable art and the various places where it is all stored. A little simple arithmetic reveals a cache valued well above what this mob can imagine. They kill the Russian soldiers carrying the list and set out to start their own collection. One particularly valuable assemblage is under a church . . . that serves a convent . . . that manages an orphanage. That’s their destination.
Scot Harvath and his team have just taken out the Iranian director of drone operations in a well choreographed ambush of a convoy in Belarus. All good. Bad guy is history. Time for some R&R in Poland with his Norwegian fiancĂ©, assuming she can get some time off from her job in Norway’s security apparatus. His partner in crime, and collector of hacked information, Nicholas (aka The Troll) arrives in Poland about the same time with an assignment. An American aid worker has been taken captive by this rogue element of the rogue Wagner Group. The President can’t send in any military or ‘Agency’ spooks because the US can’t be seen as having boots on the ground. The job falls to Harvath’s employer, The Carlton Group, to give the President some deniability. Harvath is to get into Ukraine, with no weapons, no team, and the barest minimum of intelligence. Can't wait for a night with Solvi. Got to leave now. He leaves with just the promise of four western mercenaries to find/rescue Anna Royko and dispense with all the Ravens by whatever means he fells is necessary.
Harvath must secret himself across the border, grab any number of different means of transport (most such acquisitions involve the requisite gun play), try to convince locals that he is on their side to improve his limited intelligence, and develop a map of eastern Ukraine to work out the pattern behind how the Ravens have been looting and killing on top of their already growing list of war crimes. Once Harvath identifies (he hopes) their base of operations, he must set a plan in motion against an enemy that outnumbers his little group of five by upwards of 10 to 1.
Thor is a terrific writer who pens books to be topical to current geopolitical tensions. He also has a good plot pattern that his legion of fans have come to appreciate: finish off an operation, plan some R&R, get yanked back in, head in against terrible odds, find a way to finish off the bad guys, head home to his Norwegian fiance. Not sure that all his books follow that exact plan and what would it matter it all his books followed that model. His stories are believable, topical, and filled with political machinations of the best and worst on both sides to keep us all entertained.
What can I say? Another winner in a long line of winners (this is his 22rd novel) and Thor’s far from being done. Plenty of breathless moments under crushing pressure that’ll keep you turning pages well into the darkness.
Oh, looks like I forgot to tell y'all - Thor is one of the tent poles of the Emily Bestler Books empire of thrillers. Pay attention to those publishers.
ECD
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