The Last Protector

This solid thriller from Gervais (the Pierce Hunt series) stars Secret Service agent Clayton White, a former U.S. Air Force combat rescue officer who was wounded in Iraq. Clayton leads the security detail for Veronica Hammond, the only daughter of Vice President-elect Alexander Hammond, a family friend who served with Clayton’s late father, a fellow army general. Veronica, an aerial archaeologist who uses satellite imagery to study human activity, has released a smartphone app that threatens to reveal evidence of war crimes committed by her father and Roy Oxley, a British MI6 agent turned ruthless mercenary. Oxley sends his inscrutable and deadly henchman, Abelard Krantz, and a team of assassins after Veronica to derail the project. Clayton thwarts the attack, though his government career ends when his romantic relationship with Veronica is exposed. Hammond seizes the opportunity to pit an unleashed, expendable Clayton against his enemies, even as Clayton and Veronica begin to suspect him of treachery. The exciting plot builds to a somewhat abrupt, incomplete ending. Hopefully, Gervais is merely keeping some powder dry for even more explosive action in the inevitable sequel. Agent: Eric Myers, Myers Literary Management. (Nov.)