THE LAST GUARDIAN

The assassination of the FBI director thrusts a retired super-spy back into service.

President Alexander Hammond has entrusted former Secret Service agent Clayton White with spearheading the fight against the fentanyl epidemic. White first appears at the Mexican border steering the Drug Enforcement Administration to a major confiscation of the drug. But this is just the tip of an ominous criminal iceberg linked to the Red Dragon Triad. Two months later, White’s in Key West with his pregnant fiancee, Veronica Hammond, an archaeologist who just happens to be the president’s daughter, when the specter of the Red Dragon resurfaces, requiring a trip to the Virgin Islands for a secret meeting with FBI director Patrick O’Donnell. Meanwhile, in Macau, Red Dragon leader Geng Peiwu sets an elaborate plan in motion by tricking American CEO Henry Newman into murder and then blackmailing him. Gervais puts even more players into the mix, laying the groundwork for the multiple twists to come. O’Donnell is hosting a party whose guests include his son, Jeremy, a newly minted FBI agent; Jeremy’s fiancee, Daphne; and several others whose true allegiances become clear as the action unfolds. White arrives at O’Donnell’s shortly after a bloodbath that marks the opening move in a complex tale of duplicity and revenge. White’s third thrill ride spans the globe, unfolding in Monaco and Switzerland as well as China and Washington, and benefiting as much from its numerous surprises as from its expertly choreographed action scenes.

A brisk globetrotting thriller with abundant tension and a timely premise.