Nothing on Earth

MacKenzie (Feast Days) delivers an ambitious blend of espionage thriller and metaphysical fiction that spans a decade of geopolitical upheaval and takes readers from the Horn of Africa to Myanmar. After the 9/11 attacks, American spy Anna Hendrix worked for years in counterterrorism before burning out and transferring to the “energy directorate.” As the novel opens in 2011, she’s back on the job after giving birth to her daughter, Thea. Anna is sent to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with a new mission: to investigate China’s interest in a mysterious, otherworldly metal of unknown origin known simply as “The Resource.” Soon, Anna finds herself on a global chase for a variety of bad actors, employing several identities to stay safe. MacKenzie sets Anna’s mission, which ends up lasting a decade, against a backdrop of real-world historical events from the assassination of Osama bin Laden to the shifting global alliances that follow the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Anna is the consummate spy, and MacKenzie effectively narrates the story from her first-person perspective, combining her sober investigative voice with moving philosophical meditations on motherhood. The result is a gripping, complex slow burn featuring plenty of old-school tradecraft that will appeal to fans of John le Carré, Graham Greene, and Dan Fesperman. (Apr.)