Hidden Order

In Thor%E2%80%99s latest, an assassin is viciously reducing the short list of candidates for the top job at the Federal Reserve, and it%E2%80%99s up to rugged, hypereffective private intelligence operative Scot Harvath to halt the hits. He and a small band of associates%E2%80%94including his outspoken boss, Reed Carlton, and Boston detective Lara Cordero%E2%80%94are pitted against the wealthy and powerful members of a secret cabal. Armand Schultz makes good use of no-frills narration to deliver the author%E2%80%99s prose crisply, while smartly adjusting his pacing during action sequences, dialogue-rich scenes, and paragraphs detailing events in American history. His aging Carlton is gruff and demanding. The head villains snarl. The women are treated to acceptable upper-register voices. And other characters are provided appropriate accents%E2%80%94for example, an exaggerated, gravelly Boston dialect for a Southie-born, hardboiled detective. As for Harvath, Schultz speaks in a confident, low rumble that softens in the course of the operative%E2%80%99s romance with Cordero, who, at book%E2%80%99s end, is strong enough to suggest a big change in his future. An Atria/Emily Bestler hardcover. (July)