Swift Vengeance

Lindsey Rakes, the troubled woman at the center of bestseller Parker’s terrific sequel to 2017’s The Room of White Fire, was once part of a team of U.S.-based drone operators attacking terrorists 7,500 miles away. The psychological toll of the work eventually sent her into a tailspin of drinking and gambling that cost her her family, but she’s now recovering. When Lindsey receives a death threat in the mail from someone who calls himself Caliphornia, she shares it with series lead Roland Ford, a San Diego, Calif., PI. Ford enlists the help of FBI agent Joan Taucher, who worries that the threat comes from “homegrown violent extremists.” The stakes rapidly rise after one of Lindsey’s former colleagues in Bakersfield is beheaded. The hunt for Caliphornia is suspenseful, the backstory behind the threats is disturbingly horrible, and the denouement is scary and satisfying. Parker deepens the narrative with musings on Ford’s life, the horrors and ambiguities of the war on terror, and the fine line between justice and vengeance. [em]Author tour. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Agency. (Aug.) [/em]