End Game

Set in London in 2002, Johnson’s hard-hitting conclusion to his trilogy featuring Det. Insp. Robert Finlay (after 2017’s Deadly Game) finds Finlay and his fellow Security Service agents operating in a world in which your enemies and your allies are often the same, and knowing who to trust and how far to trust are essential to survival. The nominal but unknown enemy is the secret organization Al Anfal; just about everyone privy to a revealing document about Al Anfal winds up dead. The known enemies include Supt. Jim Mellor, the feared head of the Met’s Complaint Investigation Branch, who dares Finlay to throw a punch in a brief but tense confrontation at a police station. The stakes rise when Finlay’s colleague Kevin Jones is cleverly framed for the murder of his girlfriend and arrested. Jones makes a daring prison escape that brings the action to a head. The relentless violence will weary some readers. Johnson, a former solider and Metropolitan Police officer, is at his best in detailing bureaucratic maneuvering. Agent: James Wills, Watson Little (U.K.). (Oct.)