Code 13: The Navy JAG Series, Book 2

Brown’s intriguing second Navy JAG thriller (after 2015’s Detained) follows Lt. Cmdr. Caroline McCormick from shipboard duty to the Pentagon’s Code 13, the legal brain trust of the U.S. Navy, and into a harrowing personal and professional mission. Caroline’s new assignment reunites her with former lover Lt. Cmdr. P.J. MacDonald, who has been ordered to render a legal opinion on the constitutionality of Project Blue Jay, a proposed massive drone surveillance program that would be run by the Navy but under partial control of the Department of Homeland Security. Multiple factions have large stakes in the outcome, including Airflite CEO Richardson DeKlerk, whose company would get the drone contract, and gangster Phillip D’Agostino, whose smuggling operations might be curtailed. Brown addresses the serious constitutional issues raised by the domestic use and control of drones, but readers should be prepared for corrupt, spineless politicians and other stock characters in an entry sure to please the author’s many fans. (Apr.)