Hard Power
JB Turner
281 pages
Thomas & Mercer
Published March 12, 2024
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This is the twelfth instalment of the Jon Reznick series about a former CIA officer the books assassin, and one of my favourite of the series so far. I’ve read them all in order but it’s not essential to follow the story – although the key relationship would make more sense if you’ve read at least some of the previous books.
Reznick is asked to help find the killer of his young hacker friend Trevelle’s girlfriend, a dissident from Hong Kong, who has been killed by agents of the Chinese government in New York. When events rapidly turn violent, Jon and his friends must go on the run from his former allies at the FBI – putting him at odds with his former lover Martha.
Sometimes by this stage in a series, authors can start to run out of ideas, and I was almost ready to give up a couple of books ago, but am glad I didn’t as this was a fast-paced exciting read that has Reznick facing an implacable and powerful new enemy – China. The lengths their spies are willing to go to in order to take out so-called enemies of the state felt plausibly scary, including corrupting FBI agents and impersonating rescue services. I felt most sorry for poor Martha Meyerstein, her loyalties impossibly split, her career threatened after decades of service for political expediency. The ending here wraps things up in a way that could mean the end of the series – but I hope not!
Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the ARC. I am posting this honest review voluntarily.
Hard Power is available now.
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