Flash Points: A Kirk McGarvey Thriller

Early in Edgar-finalist Hagberg’s well-plotted, lightning-quick 22nd novel featuring superspy Kirk McGarvey (after 2017’s Tower Down), McGarvey, who’s been teaching philosophy at a “semi-private ultra-liberal and prestigious small college” in Sarasota, Fla., is about to climb into his ’56 Porsche Speedster when he senses something wrong. He’s lucky to survive the ensuing explosion. As McGarvey and his team of Pete Boylan (his girlfriend and super badass agent in her own right) and CIA computer wizard Otto Rencke dig deeper, they realize that the murder attempt is only one element in a complex plot being carried out by McGarvey’s nemesis, ruthless assassin Kamal al-Daran. But who’s behind the plot? And, even more disturbing, are there two parallel terrorist schemes in the works? One of these could lead directly to the inner circle of U.S. president T. Wallace Weaver, whose impulsive behavior has alienated historic allies and provoked the ire of nations armed with nuclear weapons, and whose simplistic notions of immigration control have divided the country. Hagberg provides some entertaining and—at times—squeamishly realistic new twists on the terrorist threat. Agent: Susan Gleason, Susan Gleason Literary. (Mar.)