Dead Line

Englishman Daniel Trent, the hero of Ewan’s unexceptional second standalone (after 2012’s Safe House), specializes in the recovery of kidnapping victims. When Trent’s fiancée and business partner, Aimée Paget disappears in France, Trent suspects that his client Jérôme Moreau is responsible. Trent travels to Marseilles to question Moreau, but while he’s tailing his target, armed men in a Land Cruiser force both Trent’s Peugeot and Moreau’s Mercedes off the road and grab Moreau. After the kidnappers speed off, Trent tells Moreau’s “lithe and beautiful” wife, Stephanie, and the suspicious family bodyguard, Alain, both of whom were in the Mercedes, that he was following Moreau to test the adequacy of their security measures. To rescue Aimée, Trent must help secure Moreau’s safe release from the thugs who have seized him. Fans of Ewan’s Good Thief series may find the arrogant Trent a less sympathetic lead than burglar Charlie Howard. [em]Agent: Vivien Green, Sheil Land Associates (U.K.). (Aug.) [/em]