Omega Rules: An Evan Ryder Novel

Bestseller Lustbader’s intricate third espionage novel featuring Evan Ryder (after 2021’s The Kobalt Dossier) finds Evan and Ben Butler, her boss and partner, still fighting Omega, the secret organization bent on starting a second U.S. civil war and establishing a white Christian nation. Evan and Ben are now employed by Parachute, a massive corporation more powerful than any government on earth. Run by eccentric Marsden Tribe, Parachute has been built on his extraordinary breakthroughs in quantum computing. The assassination of a Parachute agent in Vienna kicks off the action, which switches back and forth among various characters, including Kata Romanova Hemakova, head of the most secret action directorate of Russia’s FSB, who has a shocking secret; Evan, who has a complicated and evolving family history; and Ben, who struggles physically with injuries incurred in the last book. Ben is being cared for by a mysterious therapist whose skills extend far beyond physical therapy. This installment is an accessible entry-point to the series, but for maximum enjoyment, newcomers would do well to start with the first, The Nemesis Manifesto, and read all three in order. (May)