Final Strike

Robert Hamilton, an American billionaire, has come to Moscow to meet with Kuri Basayev, one of Russia’s richest oligarchs, in bestseller Cohen’s stirring if flawed third Sean Falcone novel (after 2015’s Collision). The two are planning a joint business venture to mine valuable metals from an asteroid. Soon after Hamilton learns that Basayev has been blown up on his yacht in the Black Sea, Russian security agents arrive at Hamilton’s hotel to take him to a meeting with Boris Lebed, Putin’s successor as president of the Russian Federation. When Hamilton refuses Lebed’s offer to find him another partner, Lebed makes it clear he can’t leave Moscow until he cooperates. Once U.S. president Blake Oxley hears of Hamilton’s plight, he assigns former national security adviser Falcone the job of getting Hamilton back home. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. Cohen, who served as secretary of defense under President Bill Clinton, undermines a perfectly good thriller by repeatedly inserting information about the inner workings of government that, interesting as it may be, brings the plot to a screeching halt. (Feb.)