White King

Gómez-Jurado pulls out all the stops in the thrilling conclusion to his Antonia Scott trilogy (after Black Wolf). Scott’s exceptional intellect landed her a spot on the covert Red Queen Project, which pairs extraordinary operatives with members of European law enforcement who also act as their bodyguards. After Scott’s partner, Spanish Police Insp. Jon Gutiérrez, is abducted, her handler tells her that members of the Red Queen program have been killed across Europe. As Scott worries she might be the next to die, her nemesis, Mr. White, takes credit for kidnapping Gutiérrez and offers Scott a deal: if she solves three murders on a tight deadline, including one that ended in a wrongful conviction several years earlier, Gutiérrez will be returned to her unharmed. Gómez-Jurado successfully raises the stakes at every turn without tipping the narrative into absurdity, delivering a pulse-pounding adventure that also manages to tie up the previous novels’ loose ends. It’s a fitting finale. (Mar.)