The Elimination Threat

Laurence’s frenetic third thriller pitting FBI agent James Mason against the cabal known as the Thirteen (after 2020’s The Annihilation Protocol) finds Mason searching for one of the group’s key figures, an expert in nuclear physics known as the Dragon, who’s devoted to ending the world so that a chosen few can be transformed into a “modern pantheon of gods.” The complex plot involves a conspiracy related to petrodollars, the U.S. national debt, and a Russian plan to destroy the economies of Western nations. Predictably, Mason’s attempts to thwart disaster are compromised by the Thirteen’s infiltration of the FBI. As in the previous books, the mega-high stakes don’t get in the way of the banter, and characters respond to perilous situations in psychologically implausible ways. Realism is in short supply (“the monster drugged him, opened a flap of skin on his neck, and used the flow of blood in his arteries to power a hydroelectric remote device designed to trigger the release of Novichok from the subway trains departing Grand Central Station”). This one’s for those already invested in the over-the-top scenario. Agent: Alex Slater, Trident Media Group. (Aug.)