The Last Second

Bestsellers Coulter and Ellison venture into SF territory with their seamlessly plotted sixth Brit in the FBI thriller (after 2018’s The Sixth Day). When astrophysicist Nevaeh Patel claims that she made contact with an alien species, the Numen, during an EVA (extravehicular activity) outside the International Space Station in 2010, a team of NASA psychiatrists grounds her, and she quits. Fast-forward to 2018, Nevaeh is now a corporate leader at Galactus, a private European aerospace company. Nevaeh has placed a nuclear bomb on a recently launched Galactus satellite that when detonated will set off an electromagnetic pulse to create chaos with worldwide communications systems. This will allow the Numen to come to Earth and take over. In return for her help, the Numen will make Neveah immortal. The suspense builds as FBI special agents Michaela Caine and Nicholas Drummond participate in the effort to prevent this catastrophe. Readers who have no problem accepting the over-the-top scenario will have fun. Agent: Robert Gottlieb, Trident Media Group (Mar.)