Gambit

Edgar finalist Hagberg’s winning 26th Kirk McGarvey novel (after 2020’s McGarvey) pits the ex-CIA agent against billionaire Thomas Hammond, who lost a bitcoin deal to McGarvey in an earlier book. This adds an element of revenge to Hammond’s mission to kill McGarvey, but that’s not the real reason for the vendetta. Bored with life, Hammond sees his operation against McGarvey as man-hunting-man sport. McGarvey must also contend with a husband-and-wife hit team known as the Chinese Scorpions and an entire Spetsnaz unit. A subplot involves a Russian setting up an oil pipeline deal who also wants McGarvey dead, but this is almost an afterthought. Series fans will cheer as, against tremendous odds, McGarvey and his valiant wife, Pete, survive. The open ending promises that McGarvey and the other members of his team will be back. His faithful readers will be waiting. Agent: Susan Gleason, Susan Gleason Literary. (Apr.)