Wide Awake

Konkoly wraps up the Devin Gray trilogy (after 2022’s Coming Dawn) with this kinetic thriller that pits the FBI countersurveillance whiz and his task force of military veterans against a Russian archvillain ripped from the headlines. Yuri Pichugin, founder of a mercenary army, seeks to avenge the costly defeats Gray and his friends handed him in previous series entries, and plants operatives in the United States in a scheme to to sow social discord and ignite a civil war. During a sailing excursion in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay, some of those operatives show up and kill a few of Gray’s allies in a shootout. As Gray and company retreat to a safe house in Baltimore, a crew of Russian drone operators try to massacre demonstrators in Washington, D.C.; then, kamikaze drones launch another assault on Gray’s team. It’s up to Gray to rally his remaining cohort and end Pichugin’s reign of terror once and for all. Konkoly undersells character development for amped-up action, but the pacing is brisk and the bloodshed cinematic enough that a first-timer can wolf down this entry without having knowledge of the first two. This sends the series out with a bang. (Aug.)