Double Tap: A Helen Warwick Thriller

Retired CIA assassin Helen Warwick tracks down an old foe in Dees’s entertaining if far-fetched sequel to Second Shot. When a sniper nearly takes out her politician son at a campaign event, Helen recognizes the assassination attempt as the work of Scorpius, a Russian mole embedded in the CIA whom Helen thought she’d killed decades earlier. Her former bosses entice her to take over the agency’s “Scorpius-hunting team,” but warn her that Scorpius may have infiltrated the squad. Meanwhile, a string of young women across D.C. are being kidnapped, tortured, and murdered, and Helen tries to determine whether the crimes have anything to do with Scorpius. As in the previous installment, Dees keeps things brisk, with the middle-aged Helen ably stabbing, shooting, and outsmarting her foes at every turn. Certain plot developments strain credibility, but most readers will be having too much fun to care. This will hold special appeal for thriller fans of a certain age. Agent: Nicole Resciniti, Seymour Agency. (June)