The Paris Vendetta

Serafin (coauthor of Three Women Disappear) underwhelms in this bland thriller about an investment banker whose bone-headed decision lands him in hot water. Adam Macias is in Paris for a banking conference when he spots a “breathtakingly exotic aesthetic masterpiece” of a woman and grants her access to a rooftop party with his ID badge. After the stranger vanishes into the crowd before he can get her name, someone douses the CEO of Adam’s bank in oil and sets him on fire, leaving him in critical condition. Adam’s unusual badge activity makes him a suspect in the eyes of French authorities, so he sets out to find the stranger in hopes she can help clear his name. When he locates her, he stumbles into a sinister and sophisticated intelligence operation, and has to decide whether he can trust his beautiful new companion with his life. Serafin retreads familiar espionage tropes, and his characters never really come to life. North by Northwest this is not. Agent: Lisa Gallagher, DeFiore & Co. (June)