cover image The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen

The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen

Thomas Caplan. Viking, $26.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-670-02321-9

Leading man Ty Hunter, “the number one box-office star in the world,” uses his good looks, acting ability, and celebrity the way other action heroes use their ninja warrior and advanced weaponry skills in this well-crafted but subdued thriller from Caplan (Grace and Favor). At the Cannes film festival, Ty attends a party aboard a yacht owned by a wealthy businessman, Ian Santal, who with the help of Philip Frost, an American in Russia working to decommission surplus nuclear weapons, has managed to steal three of the nukes. Soon after the party, where Ty falls under the spell of Ian’s ward, the beautiful Isabella Cavill, the U.S. president asks Ty, a former covert operative, to lead an investigation into the theft of the nukes. The rather tepid action that follows will lead readers to hope for more gunplay, explosions, and thrills in Ty’s next adventure. Former president Bill Clinton, a roommate of the author’s at Georgetown University, provides an introduction. (Jan.)