Near Dark by Brad Thor

It’s early fall and the pre-Christmas rush of new books in getting into full swing. Brad Thor’s annual contribution comes right when we all need Scot Harvath.

Near Dark begins two weeks after last year’s Backlash ended. In Backlash, his mentor, Reed Carlton, had developed Alzheimer’s Disease and to protect the treasure trove of secrets in The Old Man’s head, Harvath had sequestered Carlton in the Maine woods. At the same time, Harvath had married Lara at a time where Carleton was reasonably lucid. The small ceremony also included Lydia Ryan, a former CIA section director and new head of The Carleton Group. While all were in Maine, Russian assassins attempting to kill Harvath took out his new wife, Ryan, and Carleton.

Near Dark picks up two weeks later after Harvath has gone off the grid in the Keys to drink away his pain. Does a pretty good job. His alcohol issues plague him throughout this book. But even when drunk, he can’t help sticking his nose into other people’s business, especially when a woman is on the wrong end of an altercation. One such attempt at helping a woman under duress leads to a 2 on 1 duel in an alley. Make that 3 on 1. As the 2 thugs are working on Harvath, a third comes in ready to end Harvath’s pain. Raises his weapon and  . . . the shooter gets a few bullets to the head. Some of Harvath’s compatriots with The Carleton Group have his back.

They inform Harvath that over the past two weeks since the slaughter in Maine, an unknown benefactor put up a bounty on Harvath. $100 million. The contract doesn’t go to one killer. It’s a general announcement. First to kill gets the payment. Not to mention that Carl Pedersen, a Norwegian Intelligence Service colleague of Reed Carlton, was tortured for information about Harvath and killed the week before.

From here on, the story is about tracking backwards from the dead shooter to find out who sent the shooter, who might be the next to try, who is/are the intermediaries between the money and the triggers, and ultimately, who put up the money. Harvath is after the source of the money behind the Maine slaughter. The Norwegians are on the same trail to find out who took out Pedersen and assign one of his proteges, a recovering drug addict/agent in need of redemption to work with Harvath.

Solvi Kolstad has her own history of demons. As a teenager, she was a runway model. A stunning Nordic beauty who got a little too involved in the model lifestyle. She did get married and out of the jet set for a while  finding work with the NIS. But when her husband wanted kids and she didn’t, the hubby bolted and she went back to the drugs. Pedersen pulled her out and got her head back into the intelligence game. Backing Harvath is her first real frontline assignment since coming back. These two wounded warriors form a working alliance where their physical skills and mental dexterity complement each other.

This Thor’s 20^th Scot Harvath book, most of which were NYT best sellers. This made the 2020 best seller list simply based on pre-release orders. Harvath continues to deliver the goods. Being one of those authors who churn out a book each year, he’s got to be good and this one is no exception. While this one is short on non-stop action and long on thought and reasoning that goes with dogged investigation in no way detracts from the tension of the story. A one or two sitting read if you give it the chance.

ECD