cover image War Hawk: A Tucker Wayne Novel

War Hawk: A Tucker Wayne Novel

James Rollins and Grant Blackwood. Morrow, $28 (384p) ISBN 978-0-06-213527-8

Former Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his canine partner, Kane, face a new state-of-the-art threat in bestseller Rollins and Blackwood's inventive sequel to 2014's The Kill Switch. Global media magnate Pruitt Kellerman seeks to destabilize political hot spots and murder those in his way with a fleet of military drones. Secret teams under his control use research stolen from famed WWII cryptanalyst Alan Turing to develop drones capable of thinking autonomously, hacking enemy computer systems, and instigating chaos with social media disinformation. Tucker leads a team of intelligence analysts who race to decrypt the drones' malicious code. The action ranges from the swamps of Alabama and New Mexico nuclear test sites to the beaches of Trinidad and the mountains of Serbia. Kane, a Belgian Malinois, is the standout character, more than just a plot device and never anthropomorphized. His point-of-view chapters reveal his loyalty, fear, intelligence, and even a desire for revenge. Kane's a good boy! Agent: Russell Galen, Scovil Galen Ghosh. (Apr.)