A Billion Ways to Die

At the start of Knopf’s highly inventive third mystery featuring market researcher Arthur Cathcart (after 2013’s Cries of the Lost), armed men seize Cathcart and girlfriend Natsumi Fitzgerald from their sailboat and threaten them with torture unless they reveal the location of a missing billion dollars, of which they know nothing. A temporary reprieve allows the couple, who have been living in the Caribbean under aliases, to assess their situation and conclude that they will never be safe until they get out from under the (false) charges against them back in the States, including fraud, embezzlement, and murder. Some actions they take are as basic as shaking someone tailing them or adopting a disguise. At other times, they must deal with “the ineluctable modality of the calculable.” Lending a hand are former FBI agent Shelly Gross, cyber geek Strider, and Cathcart’s doctor sister, Evelyn. Throughout, Cathcart proves as nimble on his feet as he is quick witted. (Nov.)