Mercy’s Chase: A Salem’s Cipher Mystery

Lourey’s follow-up to 2016’s Salem’s Cipher, a confusing mash-up of science, religion, romance, and spies, takes Salem Wiley, a cyber-analyst for the Black Chamber, a covert branch of the FBI, to England, where she seeks to discover the secret of Stonehenge. Meanwhile, President Gina Hayes and her vice president, Peter Chamberlin, are in London, where House Speaker Vit Linder plots to have them assassinated. Two secret societies, the Order and the Underground, struggle for supremacy, and the loyalty of many is an open question. Among them are Clancy Johnson, whose job is to kill the president; Jason, a “face-changing” assassin (literally, not cosmetic); Alafair, Salem’s knife-wielding warrior protector; and the master assassin known as the Grimalkin. Salem’s search takes her to Scotland, where she discovers the “first true stone henge” and mysterious coded messages left for those smart enough to decipher them. Not much of what goes on makes sense, but Lourey does put an intriguing feminist slant on history. (Sept.)