W.E.B. Griffin Rogue Asset

Fans of bestseller W.E.B. Griffin (1929–2019) will welcome the return of Griffin’s hero C.G. “Charley” Castillo—last seen in 2013’s Hazardous Duty, when he was an Army colonel—in the capable ninth Presidential Agent novel by Andrews and Wilson (coauthors of the Tier One series). When secretary of state Frank Malone is kidnapped while attending a Middle East summit in Cairo, President Natalie Cohen responds by reactivating the Presidential Agent program. She calls Castillo, the original Presidential Agent , out of retirement and asks him to take charge of the mission to rescue Malone. The hitch is he’ll be helped by U.S. Marine Corps Capt. P.K. “Pick” McCoy Jr., who’s slated to become the next Presidential Agent. Bored with sitting on his front porch, Charley accepts the mission, but he’s less than enthusiastic about his role as trainer to the man who’ll be taking his job. If the main plot follows predictable lines, Andrews and Wilson supply plenty of credible action in the Griffin mold, while the mentoring subplot provides extra interest. Readers will look forward to how the succession angle is handled in the sequel. Agent: Mel Berger, WME. (Dec.)