cover image The Spy Across the Table: A Jim Brodie Thriller

The Spy Across the Table: A Jim Brodie Thriller

Barry Lancet. Simon & Schuster, $26 (448p) ISBN 978-1-4767-9491-4

A kabuki play at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House in Washington, D.C., sets the stage for Lancet’s fast-paced fourth thriller featuring Japanese antiquities expert Jim Brodie (after 2016’s Pacific Burn). Jim is happy to arrange for an old college friend of his, Michael “Mikey” Dillman, to meet another friend, Sayuri “Sharon” Tanaka—both of them renowned production designers—in a room backstage. Unfortunately, someone shoots them there, killing Sharon and mortally wounding Mikey, before escaping. The U.S. president’s wife, Joan Slater, who was a close friend of Sharon, hires Jim to find the murderer and insists that Jim share any information he discovers with Tom Swelley, a Homeland Security agent. Despite the First Lady’s instruction that they work together, Tom physically threatens Jim to get him to back off of the investigation. Jim’s mission takes him to Asia, including both North and South Korea, where he confronts great dangers and jeopardizes his serious relationship with his girlfriend. Lancet keeps the suspense high through the exciting climax. [em]Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (June) [/em]