The Cabal

Hagberg's hard-hitting 14th Kirk McGarvey thriller picks up several plot threads from The Expediter, the previous book featuring the former CIA director. When Kirk's son-in-law, CIA agent Todd Van Buren, meets his college friend and Washington Post reporter, Josh Givens, at a D.C. restaurant, Josh tells Todd he's investigating a secret shadow government called the Friday Club, whose members span the breadth of Washington's political and military elite. That same day, two assassins shoot Todd to death in his car on a highway south of Fredericksburg, Md. Hours later, they murder Josh and his wife and son in Josh's Washington townhouse. An enraged Kirk is determined to bring the killers and their masters to justice, but further deaths don't make his mission any easier. Fortunately, Kirk's a tough customer, and while he's emotionally and physically damaged, readers can rest assured that he'll be back for another go at America's enemies. (July)