Promises to Keep

Beaumont’s far-fetched third Sabrina Vaughn novel (after 2014’s Sacrificial Muse) reads like the transcript of a breathlessly bloody computer game. Professional killer Michael O’Shea, known for his “exquisite” knife work, has a tracking device implanted in his back that enslaves him to Livingston Shaw, the head of a brutal crime organization that carries out governmentally sanctioned black ops under the guise of a privatized military group. Chapters alternate between O’Shea’s previous job as a bodyguard to a Colombian drug lord’s small daughter and his current assignment from Shaw, finding the kidnapped grandson of an influential U.S. senator. O’Shea hopes to free himself from his unwilling servitude and establish a new life with Sabrina, a tough San Francisco homicide cop, who makes O’Shea wish he could return to normalcy. Hurtling from one scene of blurry deception and wanton carnage to another, this unlikely combination of pop psychology and sadism will appeal to adolescents of all ages. (Aug.)