Deep Sleep

This pedal-to-the-metal, paranoia-inducing covert ops thriller from Konkoly (the Ryan Decker series) involves a multigenerational Russian sleeper network in the States (“Something insidious had taken root in America nearly fifty years ago and had somehow gone unnoticed”). When countersurveillance expert Devin Gray’s estranged mother—a “psychotically paranoid former CIA officer”—kills herself after attempting to kidnap an old man from an assisted living facility, Devin begins receiving automated messages from her that reveal what she had been working on for years: a grand-scale conspiracy begun during the Cold War that involves hundreds of Russian sleeper agents and their children, who have infiltrated nearly every level of American military, government, and industry. Devin has his work cut out for him to neutralize the threat. Techno-thrillers fans will delight in military vet Konkoly’s obvious expertise when it comes to the authenticity and intensity of the numerous action sequences, but the complete lack of a conclusion will rile more than a few readers. Hopefully, a sequel that picks up where this leaves off will soon follow. (Jan.)