Jungle Up

At the start of Pirog’s unconvincing fifth thriller featuring PI Thomas Prescott (after 2017’s Show Me), Thomas, a former homicide cop and FBI consultant, gets a voicemail from ex-girlfriend Gina Brady, a physician working in Bolivia. Gina’s desperate message states she’s been abducted, possibly by narco traffickers, and pleads for Prescott’s help. He sets off on a rescue mission, tagging along with an expedition to the Bolivian jungle led by documentarian Jonathan Roth. Jonathan’s team is hoping to make history by locating the ruins of a lost Incan city. Thomas, who previously survived two shootings and being attacked by a wolf pack, faces plenty of danger in his effort to save Gina, but the various threats come off as cartoonish, and the horrific death of an expedition member is undercut by a cavalier reaction to the tragedy. Reliance in a crucial scene on the hoariest of clichés—a misfiring gun—doesn’t help the reader feel the perils are real. This one’s strictly for series fans. [em]Agent: Danny Baror, Baror International. (Apr.) [/em]