The End Game

Bestseller Coulter and Ellison’s intense, captivating third Brit in the FBI novel (after 2014’s The Lost Key) pits FBI agent Nicholas Drummond and his partner, Michaela “Mike” Caine, against Celebrants of Earth, a small terrorist group whose goal is “to eliminate oil imports from the Middle East.” When a bomb explodes at an oil refinery in Bayonne, N.J., causing multiple casualties, CIA agent Vanessa Grace, who’s been operating undercover in COE, fears that the group plans to escalate the violence. In particular, Vanessa worries COE will target a high-level U.S. government official in retaliation for American involvement in Middle East peace negotiations. Meanwhile, COE may be harboring one of the world’s most dangerous assassins, Zahir Damari. Nicholas and Mike work in perfect sync, never missing a beat when interviewing witnesses, despite Nicholas’s fastidious nature and the ever-present attraction between the two. Their relationship leaves much room for developments in future installments of this excellent suspense series. [em]Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group. (Sept.) [/em]