The Kill List

This subpar war-on-terror thriller from Diamond Dagger Award–winner Forsyth, with its unknowable outcome, offers less suspense than his Edgar-winning debut, The Day of the Jackal, where the ending is never in doubt. A Muslim extremist, known only as the Preacher, is spreading the message of violent jihad via English-language videos, and his acolytes have begun targeting public officials in the U.S. and the U.K. The job of stopping him falls to Kit Carson, an ex-Marine now part of a super-secret agency in Virginia called Technical Operations Support Activity. Carson, who’s known as the Tracker, assembles an assortment of allies straight out of a Mission Impossible script, including a reclusive teenager who’s a master hacker employed to trace the Preacher. Some readers will wonder why Forsyth bothered to give Carson a personal incentive to complete the mission. Others will find a lack of memorable characters an obstacle to genuine engagement. Agent: Ed Victor, Ed Victor Literary Agency. (Aug.)