Kennedy 35

Bestseller Cumming adeptly intertwines spy missions past and present for this taut third entry in his BOX 88 series (following 2022’s Judas 62). In 1995, Lachlan “Lockie” Kite is still a fledgling agent with BOX 88, an ultra-secret Anglo-American covert ops collective. His latest assignment is to bring to justice Augustin Bagaza, who’s responsible for thousands of Tutsi deaths in the Rwandan genocide and is currently living in Senegal. Kite heads to Senegal under cover of an ostensible backpacking vacation with his girlfriend, Martha. When Martha falls ill, Kite contacts an old college friend, Eric Appiah, to take her into his home and care for her while the BOX team abducts Bagaza and his accomplice/mistress, Grace Mavinga. The plan goes awry, and Kite barely escapes alive. Twenty-eight years later, Eric warns Kite that investigative journalist Lucian Michael Cablean has information on the failed operation that could endanger Kite, Martha, and the existence of BOX 88 itself. Meanwhile Mavinga, who’s become a heavyweight figure in international money laundering and terrorist financing networks, seeks revenge on all involved. Cumming masterfully orchestrates suspense as the characters’ pasts come to bear on their present, and while the ending is fairly abrupt, it promises a breakneck start for the inevitable sequel. This espionage tale grips from the get-go. Agent: Luke Janklow, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Nov.)