cover image Sandstorm: An Alex Koves Thriller

Sandstorm: An Alex Koves Thriller

Alan L. Lee. Forge, $24.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-7653-3494-7

Detroit Fox News anchor Lee’s debut, the middling first in a new thriller series, introduces Alex Koves, an ex–CIA agent and ex–pro footballer. A former girlfriend of Alex’s, CIA agent Nora Mossa, hunts him down on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, where he’s enjoying the sun and sand, and asks him to save her life. Alex reluctantly agrees to try to rescue Nora from a group of wealthy industrialists known as the Global Watch Institute, who fear Nora is on to their secret plot, code named Sandstorm, which they hope will invigorate America, change the course of history, and make them all even richer. The action involves arms dealers, Iranian nuclear ambitions, professional killers, CIA traitors, sexual tension, and the Mossad, but also clunky writing (e.g., “We’re like pawns on a big-ass chessboard”) and a less-than-credible meandering plot that leads to a fizzle of an ending. Agent: Sharlene Martin, Martin Literary Management. (June)