Kirkus
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There’s red-hot action from the get-go in the ninth novel in the late W.E.B. Griffin’s newly revived Presidential Agent series. In Cairo, terrorists murder the U.S. ambassador and kidnap Secretary of State Frank Malone, delivering a clear message that the U.S. can’t protect its own. They hold him for ransom and to gain power for themselves in Sudan, where they have spirited him. Oddly, the terrorists’ real goal is to get Sudan removed from the state sponsor of terror list. President Natalie Cohen will have none of this and decides to reinstate the secret Presidential Agent Program and bring the 57-year-old black ops asset Carlos “Charley” Guillermo Castillo out of retirement. He's paired with much younger Marine Raiders Capt. P.K. "Pick" McCoy, who will train in the field to one day be the next Presidential Agent. As expected, there is the old guy–young guy conflict: Is the kid too green'versus Can the old fart keep up with me?Castillo promises the president he'll bring Malone home, but it won’t be easy. A whole lot of bad guys will have to take a bullet, and McCoy proves himself more than up to the task. While Castillo is still the best at what he does, his Marine understudy is a “one-man killing machine” and a “one-man annihilation machine” given to “Captain America bullshit.” And speaking of bovine droppings, he amuses a CIA spook by insisting that he is not a killer. “Being good at killing isn’t what makes you a killer…I take no joy in it.” Oh right, like he hates his job. But the duo seems to take it in stride when "body parts, hot and wet, rained down on them.” Meanwhile, President Cohen hopes that Charley Castillo and his “Merry Outlaws” will show terrorists what happens when you mess with the United States of America. So don’t mind all the blood; it mostly comes from the other guys. A kick-ass thriller from start to finish. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.