Matterhorn

A retired CIA operative returns to the fray in this unremarkable spy thriller from bestseller Reich (Once a Thief). Eight years ago, Mac Dekker was framed for treason by his supposed ally, Ilya Ivashka, before appearing to die in an explosion. Instead, Dekker found refuge working on a farm in an isolated Swiss village under the pseudonym Robbie Steinhardt. His peace is interrupted when he chances on a news report about a local man’s fatal fall from the Matterhorn—and learns that the victim is his 29-year-old son, William. ID’d in the report as an IT exec, William was actually a CIA agent, Dekker soon learns, and he intentionally sacrificed himself to keep a flash drive of powerful secrets from Ivashka, who is now a Russian operative. Reluctantly, Mac reconnects with his old CIA contacts to unravel the specifics of Ivashka’s mission—which involves the distribution of a deadly nerve gas in urban American water supplies—and avenge his son’s death. Reich keeps his foot on the gas, but he underdevelops his lead character, and fails to wring enough sentiment from Mac’s parental mission to make it pop. There’s nothing here espionage fans haven’t encountered before. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management. (May)