And the Mighty Will Fall

Unprocessed grief creates a dangerous hostage situation in Wagers’s high-octane fourth Near-Earth Orbit Guard (NeoG) novel, after 2021’s The Ghosts of Trappist. The ceremonial turnover of Mars Orbital Station from NeoG to civilian control pushes Mars independence further along. But the fight for freedom has produced casualties, and vengeful survivors want both NeoG and the Free Mars movement to suffer their own losses, forcing the organizations to work together to prevent needless deaths. Wagers keeps the emotional registers of the characters front and center even as they stage the counter-terror action in cinematic scale, clearly delineating live action from the training exercises featured in previous books and carving out the psychic toll that even justified killings take. The rising body count is balanced out with scenes of reflection along the way to a foreseeable but satisfying conclusion. This is pure popcorn. Agent: Andy Zack, Zack Company. (Nov.)