cover image Ice Cold Kill

Ice Cold Kill

Dana Haynes. Minotaur, $25.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-250-00963-0

This uneven series kickoff from Haynes (Crashers) introduces Daria Gibron, a former member of Israeli intelligence who has since worked for the FBI, DEA, and ATF. In the dramatic prologue, Gibron survives a hit put on her in Los Angeles by a narcotics cartel. Meanwhile, Asher Sahar, has been released from prison, where, as the leader of a rogue group of operatives of both Shin Bet and the Mossad, he did time for plotting the assassination of a pro–peace process Israeli parliament member. Sahar now schemes to set up Gibron and Maj. Khalid Belhadj, of Syria’s Military Intelligence Directorate, by planting evidence that the two natural enemies intend to take out the U.S. president. Gibron and Belhadj must join forces to stay alive. Gibron often comes across as cartoonish (“Captured by a Syrian spy, called a ‘horse’ by the Central Intelligence Fucking Agency, and a legendarily bad hair day to boot. Simply perfect”), while the thriller plot reads like one from a lesser episode of the TV show 24. Agent: Janet Reid, FinePrint Literary Management. (Mar.)