The Pandora Deception

In Bruns and Olson’s competent sequel to 2019’s Rules of Engagement, Don Riley, the deputy director of operations of a newly formed CIA task group called Emerging Threats, gets on the trail of a mysterious figure known as the Mahdi. Aboard a yacht in the Gulf of Aqaba, two Saudi and two Israeli businessmen known as the Arab-Israeli Benevolence Coalition meet to discuss a mega-investment deal involving a series of dams on the Nile River. Jean-Pierre Manzul, CEO of Reconda Genetics, is part of the dam project, but is secretly building an underground lab where a bioweapon known as Pandora is being developed. Bioweapons have to be tested, so a series of attacks on remote villages are carried out, which are then covered up by separate terrorist incidents that are claimed by the Mahdi. Riley and his team must act fast to stop a devastating bioweapon attack. The action barrels along, but in the end the only thing that separates this from the pack is the unusual target of the weapon. With any luck, Bruns and Olson will come up with a more original plot next time. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (Sept.)