An Empty Coast

Assassin Sonja Kurtz, last seen in 2014’s The Delta, takes center stage in Park’s overwrought 12th African thriller. After eliminating a rhino horn dealer in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Sonja receives a brief text message from her daughter, Emma, a student archeologist on a field trip near Namibia’s Etosha National Park, asking for her help. Emma has uncovered the body of a man in a military uniform with dog tags reading “Brand, H.” A lot of people are interested in the discovery of the remains, which may be the clue to finding answers to a 30-year-old mystery involving a missing plane and its valuable cargo. Though Sonja is persona non grata in Namibia, her birthplace, due to past conflicts with authority, she’s able to enter the country from South Africa to look for Emma, who’s disappeared since texting her. Sonja proves a single-minded and deadly warrior as she faces a series of tests, some quite bloody, in this tangled quest for treasure and survival. (Oct.)