Classic Jason Bourne, loaded with action, sex, and excitement.
Jason Bourne enters a deadly race to find a laptop.
The throughline in the Bourne series is that someone is always out to get him. Maybe they want him dead. Maybe they want him in bed. And, once, he took a bullet to the head, which is the whole premise. The “nowhere man” remembers nothing of his past identity, and he works for a shadowy agency called Treadstone, the new head of which is a woman named Shadow. The elusive prize everyone seeks is a hacked database commonly referred to as the Files. The Files are filled with secret dirt about powerful people, every blackmailer’s fondest dream. Whoever controls this data could either destroy the deep state or protect it indefinitely. Everybody wants the information: the “FBI, CIA, NSA, DOJ. Plus most of our enemies overseas.” One such enemy is Cody, a Russian thug operating in Estonia. The files are on a laptop, and it doesn’t seem to occur to anybody that there could be copies in other places, but that doesn’t get in the way of a good story. Shadow wants the laptop, but so does the rogue ex-Treadstone agent Johanna. Two things the women have in common: They hate each other, and they have both enjoyed bedtime with Jason. Sex between Bourne and Johanna was “like two scorpions trying to mate.” That’s quite good, apparently, if you can get the visual out of your mind. And if you’re thinking that Jason doesn’t have enough women in his life, the Canadian journalist Abbey Laurent returns. Series fans will remember that she left him in The Bourne Sacrifice (2022) because he was too dangerous to be around. Now, she’s writing a book about a fatal fire, and she’s drawn back into his life. All three women are strong characters, but there’s also an Estonian damsel in distress named Tati, who is Cody’s prisoner. “‘Jason,’ she murmured aloud, her voice cracking, her soul praying. ‘Where are you?’” Her faith in him is complete, and completely warranted. Cody knows that Bourne has “a weakness for women in trouble.” The action starts early with the explosion of a limousine and a vivid description of what happens to its occupants, and from there the pace doesn’t flag.
Classic Jason Bourne, loaded with action, sex, and excitement.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9780593716489
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
A standout in the series.
The sixth adventure of Harvard symbology professor Robert Langdon explores the mysteries of human consciousness, the demonic projects of the CIA, and the city of Prague.
“Ladies and gentlemen...we are about to experience a sea change in our understanding of how the brain works, the nature of consciousness, and in fact…the very nature of reality itself.” But first—Langdon’s in love! Brown’s devoted readers first met brilliant noetic scientist Katherine Solomon in The Lost Symbol (2009); she’s back as a serious girlfriend, engaging the committed bachelor in a way not seen before. The book opens with the pair in a luxurious suite at the Four Seasons in Prague. It’s the night after Katherine has delivered the lecture quoted above, setting the theme for the novel, which features a plethora of real-life cases and anomalies that seem to support the notion that human consciousness is not localized inside the human skull. Brown’s talent for assembling research is also evident in this novel’s alter ego as a guidebook to Prague, whose history and attractions are described in great and glowing detail. Whether you appreciate or skim past the innumerable info dumps on these and other topics (Jewish folklore fans—the Golem is in the house!), it goes without saying that concision is not a goal in the Dan Brown editing process. Speaking of editing, the nearly 700-page book is dedicated to Brown’s editor, who seems to appear as a character—to put it in the italicized form used for Brownian insight, Jason Kaufman must be Jonas Faukman! A major subplot involves the theft of Katherine’s manuscript from the secure servers of Penguin Random House; the delightful Faukman continues to spout witty wisecracks even when blindfolded and hogtied. There’s no shortage of action, derring-do, explosions, high-tech torture machines, attempted and successful murders, and opportunities for split-second, last-minute escapes; good thing Langdon, this aging symbology wonk, never misses swimming his morning laps. Readers who are not already dyed-in-the-wool Langdonites may find themselves echoing the prof’s own conclusion regarding the credibility of all this paranormal hoo-ha: At some point, skepticism itself becomes irrational.
A standout in the series.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2025
ISBN: 9780385546898
Page Count: 688
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Soapy, suspenseful fun.
A remembered horror plunges a pregnant woman into a waking nightmare.
Tegan Werner, 23, barely recalls her one-night stand with married real estate developer Simon Lamar; she only learns Simon’s name after seeing him on the local news five months later. Simon wants nothing to do with the resulting child Tegan now carries and tells his lawyer to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement. A destitute Tegan is all too happy to trade her silence for cash—until a whiff of Simon’s cologne triggers a memory of him drugging and raping her. Distraught and eight months pregnant, Tegan flees her Lewiston, Maine, apartment and drives north in a blizzard, intending to seek comfort and counsel from her older brother, Dennis; instead, she gets lost and crashes, badly injuring her ankle. Tegan is terrified when hulking stranger Hank Thompson stops and extricates her from the wreck, and becomes even more so when he takes her to his cabin rather than the hospital, citing hazardous road conditions. Her anxiety eases somewhat upon meeting Hank’s wife, Polly—a former nurse who settles Tegan in a basement hospital room originally built for Polly’s now-deceased mother. Polly vows to call 911 as soon as the phones and power return, but when that doesn’t happen, Tegan becomes convinced that Hank is forcing Polly to hold her prisoner. Tegan doesn’t know the half of it. McFadden unspools her twisty tale via a first-person-present narration that alternates between Tegan and Polly, grounding character while elevating tension. Coincidence and frustratingly foolish assumptions fuel the plot, but readers able to suspend disbelief are in for a wild ride. A purposefully ambiguous, forward-flashing prologue hints at future homicide, establishing stakes from the jump.
Soapy, suspenseful fun.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781464227325
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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