Shadow Target

March 22, 2021
Ricciardi’s decently plotted if somewhat predictable fourth Jake Keller thriller (after 2020’s Black Flag) opens with the crash of a small commercial plane in the French Alps, and only Jake, a member of the CIA’s Special Activities Center, walks away. Before a rescue helicopter can whisk him to safety, Jake observes two armed men looking for something or someone—maybe him. Jake’s survival is bad news for Russian oligarch Nikolai Kozlov, who wants him dead because he might cause problems for a planned assassination of a national leader in London. Fears that someone is after him along with a suspicion that a higher than normal number of his colleagues are dying prompt Jake to investigate, which leads to a lot of international travel, some muddy intra-agency intrigue, and substantial violence as Kozlov’s team tries to neutralize Jake. Jake may not have much depth, but many will applaud his forthright patriotism (“He had seen firsthand the evil in the world and felt it was his moral obligation to eradicate as much of it as he could”). This is an action movie in book form. Agent: Rick Richter, Aevitas Creative Management.

May 15, 2021
CIA hero Jake Keller gets off to a rough start in his fourth fast-moving adventure. Keller is the only survivor of a mountainside plane crash in the French Alps and barely evades Russian bad guys searching the wreckage of what they hope looks like an accident. But he knows it was no such thing, as someone has been killing off CIA paramilitary officers like him. Now they specifically want to kill Keller, their main obstacle in killing the president when he visits London--which president they mean eventually becomes clear. Keller is the consummate good guy, "a lethal threat to any and all who wished to harm America." At only 30 years old, he's already "died" once under the name Zac Miller and is the best at what he does--a "Boy Scout" who "gets his claws into something [and] doesn't let go," as one Russian gripes to another. Indeed, he puts a guy's eye out with his thumb, but it was necessary under the circumstances. But he's no mindless killing machine--a colleague tells him, "Your compassion is what makes you special." He's also blessed with blind luck stretching all the way back to Warning Light (2018). But will he be lucky in love? A CIA woman has the hots for him while he wants to restart his love life with Genevi�ve, who's pissed that he hasn't stayed in touch with her. Of course, he's been officially dead for two years--let's see if that excuse flies. Meanwhile, the enemy has a mole in the CIA. And for once, Keller must rely on teamwork to quash the assassination plot. That may even include "working with the woman he loved." How sweet. Really, he's a likable character in a profession where people "dance on the razor's edge for a living." Ricciardi's hero is a killer thriller fans will root for.

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