The Silenced

Battles's perfunctory fourth thriller (after Shadow of Betrayal) falls short of the standard set by the first two entries in his series featuring operative Jonathan Quinn, who specializes in disposing of dead bodies and cleaning crime scenes so as to leave no evidence behind. Given his high personal standards and a conscience, Quinn works only for those he considers good guys, usually the darker departments of the U.S. government. When David Wills, a client based in London, gives Quinn and his team a series of jobs that requires them to clean up after assassinations, Quinn finds himself dealing with not only the requisite bodies but also another team of unknown origin that's bent on stopping the assassinations. As the jobs continue, Quinn begins to doubt Wills's motives. Hopefully, next time out Quinn will have a more exciting plot to tidy up after. (Mar.)