The Way I Die

Haas’s gripping fifth thriller featuring contract killer Columbus (after 2015’s A Different Lie) finds the assassin, who has changed his name to Coleman, uneasily settled in a remote area of Michigan’s Mackinac Island, where he grieves over the loss of his family and contemplates the various ways he could die. He’s tracked down by his former fence, Archie Grant, who offers him a different kind of job. Instead of a kill, Archie wants him to protect megarich Portland, Ore., software designer Matthew Boone, who has been targeted by another assassin. It’s the kind of redemption that Coleman doesn’t want, yet desperately needs, and he agrees to test Boone’s large security team. The ease with which Coleman breaks into Boone’s office shows the security team’s inadequacies. On Coleman’s advice, Boone fires every team member except for the intelligent desk guard he met on first entering Boone’s building, Peyton Martin. Soon Coleman and Martin are matching wits with a clever foe. Haas packs solid suspense, vivid action, and well-developed characters into a tight plot that never lags. Agent: Mel Berger, William Morris Endeavor. (Apr.)