The Dark Continent

Reardon’s uneven sequel to 2017’s Prometheus Man finds series hero Tom Reese lying low in Canada. Reese was once a part of the CIA’s Prometheus Project, which was launched to develop “a way to kill anyone in the world.” After being injected with stem cells to enhance his strength and intelligence, Reese left the CIA and became unexpectedly wanted by the police. Reese’s attempts to keep his whereabouts secret to protect himself and his significant other, Silvana, become harder after Karl Lyons, the cocreator of the Prometheus Project, is captured in China and, under torture, reveals Reese’s current location. Enter Richard Kronin, a madman plotting to shut off power to half the United States by attacking three substations. Kronin has recruited a team of murderers and rapists he helped escape from an oil rig used as a prison, where the inmates were given treatment like Reese’s in the hope they would become super-soldiers. After Reese and Lyons, who has managed to overcome his captors, team up, their efforts to thwart Kronin’s apocalyptic scheme follow predictable lines. Other thriller writers have done a better job with similar premises. (Jan.)