The Joy Brigade

Fans of James Church’s Inspector O novels will enjoy Limón’s eighth cold war historical featuring Sgt. George Sueño, an agent for the Eighth U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division in Seoul, South Korea (after 2011’s Mr. Kill). In 1972, a covert mission “to avoid another war between North and South Korea” takes Sueño, posing as a cargo handler, into North Korea. There the sergeant must get his hands on a 15th-century manuscript describing a court official’s pursuit of a “wild man,” possibly a beast of some sort, who took refuge in caves below the present-day demilitarized zone. This manuscript could provide detailed information about tunnels beneath the DMZ that would help the American army counter North Korean infiltration of the South. Limón keeps things moving, and the intrigue, twists, and betrayals will be both familiar and welcome to fans of classic spy fiction in the le Carré tradition. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyons Literary. (July)