The 13th Target

Secret Service agent turned bodyguard Russell “Rusty” Mullins smells a rat when Paul Luguire, the high-level Federal Reserve exec he’s been protecting, apparently commits suicide in this taut political thriller from de Castrique (The Sandburg Connection). Once Rusty starts delving, with some cloak-and-daggerish help from former colleague Amanda Church, he quickly realizes there’s something very, very wrong—especially after one of the first people he interviews turns up dead with planted evidence pointing to Rusty himself. From here the perfidious plot kicks into high gear as Rusty and unlikely allies, including crusty Det. Robert Sullivan and investigative blogger Sidney Levine, race to foil a Fed-centered conspiracy that threatens to blow Washington sky-high. But Rusty must avoid getting arrested first. Plenty of action, convincing color, and sympathetic bit players—particularly a gutsy female hostage—help maintain reader interest even through some overly didactic passages about the Fed. Agent: Linda Allen, Linda Allen Literary Agency. (July)