Gun Metal Heart

In Haynes’s brisk, darkly humorous sequel to Ice Cold Kill (2013), Diego, a Mexican bodyguard, asks an old colleague of his, Israeli ex-spy Daria Gibron, for help. Now an independent operative, Daria has been lying low in an Italian village far from the eye of various international espionage and crime organizations. Diego suspects that members of a Serbian paramilitary group, the White Scorpions, have seized his fellow bodyguard, Vince. Diego and Vince were protecting Italian engineer Gabriella Incantada, the inventor of a military-grade avionic control device. Meanwhile, Minister Dragan Petrovic, a Serb official, has hired a stunning but lethal blonde known as Major Arcana to get Gabriella’s device for him. With some under the radar assistance from senatorial adviser John Broom, Daria—“a hand grenade in high heels”—embarks on a series of explosive deeds of derring-do across Europe in this high voltage, high-body-count thrill ride. Agent: Janet Reid, FinePrint Literary Management. (Aug.)