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Radiant Angel
600 pages
A ticking-clock espionage thriller fueled by cynical humor, high-stakes paranoia, and a stubbornly anti-authoritarian hero.
What it feels like
Reading this thriller feels like riding shotgun with a brilliant but infuriatingly cynical veteran cop who refuses to play by the rules. The narrative is steeped in a tense, paranoid atmosphere where the ghosts of the Cold War feel dangerously resurrected. Driven by a punchy, first-person voice that never misses a chance for a sardonic wisecrack, the story balances the mundane frustrations of bureaucratic red tape with the sudden, adrenaline-spiking terror of a ticking-clock catastrophe. It is a propulsive, high-stakes experience that delights in its own irreverence, offering a gritty, boots-on-the-ground perspective of counter-terrorism. Fans of old-school, macho action heroes and geopolitical suspense will devour this fast-paced, unapologetically sharp-tongued race against time.
- Mood
- tense
- paranoid
- high-stakes
- Tone
- wry
- cynical
- irreverent
- suspenseful
- Pace
- propulsive
- Themes
- bureaucratic incompetence · lingering Cold War anxieties · duty versus protocol · the burden of vigilance
- The writing
- Punchy and first-person, driven by a relentless stream of sardonic internal monologue and sharp, hardboiled dialogue.
- The arc
- The journey shifts from cynical, world-weary frustration with red tape to a white-knuckle, adrenaline-fueled race against time.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love their geopolitical thrillers anchored by a politically incorrect, wisecracking maverick who gets the job done.
Content notes
- terrorism
- gun violence
- strong language
About the book
After a showdown with the notorious Yemeni terrorist known as The Panther, John Corey has left the Anti-Terrorist Task Force and returned home to New York City, taking a job with the Diplomatic Surveillance Group. Although Corey's new assignment with the DSG -- surveilling Russian diplomats working at the U.N. Mission -- is thought to be "a quiet end," he is more than happy to be out from under the thumb of the FBI and free from the bureaucracy of office life. But Corey realizes something the U.S. government doesn't: The all-too-real threat of a newly resurgent Russia. When Vasily Petrov, a colonel in the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service posing as a diplomat with the Russian U.N. Mission, mysteriously disappears from a Russian oligarch's party in Southampton, it's up to Corey to track him down. What are the Russians up to and why? Is there a possible nuclear threat, a so-called radiant angel? Will Corey find Petrov and put a stop to whatever he has planned before it's too late? Or will Corey finally be outrun and outsmarted, with America facing the prospect of a crippling attack unlike anything it's ever seen before?
Description from Open Library.
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