All Out War: An Eric Steele Novel

Early in bestseller Parnell’s rousing second Eric Steele novel (after 2018’s Man of War), Steele, a clandestine operative in a secret U.S. unit known as the Program, has dinner with his widowed mother, Susan, at his home near Pittsburgh, Pa. After dinner, an RPG hits the front gate of the fortified house. Two teams of assailants get through the breach made by the rocket blast. Steele and Susan manage to escape, but in the ensuing chase his mother is badly hurt. Steele resolves to go after the perpetrators with a vengeance. Meanwhile, Gabriel, a rogue Saudi, has sprung Aleksandr Zakayev from Russia’s infamous Black Dolphin prison and tasked him with getting a friend of his, terrorist Hassan Sitta, out of an American black site prison ship known as Cold Storage. As Steele pursues his attackers, he gets involved in the effort to identify the target of Gabriel’s plot that requires Sitta. Not all the investigative work makes sense, but the vivid, unrelenting action scenes more than compensate. A lingering mystery will leave readers eager for Steele’s next adventure. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (Sept.)