Odyssey’s End: A Rick Cahill Novel

Coyle’s riveting 10th thriller featuring Rick Cahill (after 2022’s Doomed Legacy) sees the San Diego PI in dire straits: his finances are drying up; he’s been diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE, which is slowly destroying his brain; and his wife, Leah, has fled to Santa Barbara with the couple’s 20-month-old daughter to avoid his CTE-induced rages. Cahill’s desperation makes him receptive to an offer from his longtime adversary Peter Stone, whose testimony helped convict Russian mobster Sergei Volkov several years ago. Volkov is about to be released from his 15-year sentence early, and Stone fears the mobster will harm his daughter, Angela Albright (who’s unaware Stone’s her father), in retaliation. To compound the stakes, Stone needs a kidney transplant—ideally from a blood relative—and Angela is the last one alive. Cahill reluctantly accepts $50,000 to track Angela down, and his efforts attract attention from the FBI, who believe the detective is instead tracking Theodore Raskin, the founder of a fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange. Coyle cleverly connects his plot threads, packing in a few strong surprises, but his real triumph is in wringing pathos from Cahill’s plight. There are hints that this may be the detective’s last ride; if so, he’s ending on a high note. Agent: Kimberly Cameron, Kimberly Cameron and Assoc. (Nov.)