Dark Spies: A Spycatcher Novel

Number four in Dunn’s Spycatcher series (after 2013’s Slingshot) features MI6/CIA task force operative Will Cochrane, who lacks James Bond’s gadgets but relies on encyclopedic knowledge, physical prowess, and an off-the-charts degree of self-sufficiency that even Jack Reacher would envy. His new adventure begins in Norway, where he defies orders to stand down while Russian assassins attempt to execute CIA agent Ellie Hallows. By trying to save Ellie’s life, he threatens a secret operation known as Project Ferryman, and his only choice is to flee or to face his handlers. The author’s prose is lean and compelling, and the pace is frantic, but reader Orlow has no trouble maintaining the style and speed, even when switching quickly from British accents (a deep-voiced Cochrane and his sardonic MI6 superior) to American (Agent Hallows; an assortment of U.S. spies and cops; a blustering, ruthless U.S. senator; and two snarling top dogs at the CIA, one of whom is a secret Russian wolfhound). A Morrow paperback. (May)