Dead Fall

A rogue Russian mercenary unit, conscripted from prisons and psychiatric institutions, is cutting through the Ukrainian interior leaving a trail of war crimes behind it, targeting civilian villages far from the front lines. Simultaneously, another Russian team is systematically looting churches and private homes of priceless cultural treasures. When American aid workers are killed in the violence, operative Scot Harvath is dispatched to find and stop the perpetrators before they can kill again. Dead Fall is Brad Thor's twenty-second Harvath novel, and one of the most timely, set directly in the context of the contemporary war in Ukraine.

Armand Schultz's narration of the Harvath series has given the books their characteristic audio identity, and his performance here carries both the moral weight of the atrocities described and the procedural tension of Harvath's pursuit. The Ukrainian setting is handled with enough specificity to feel real without overwhelming the thriller mechanics, and Schultz keeps the pacing sharp through the novel's considerable length. At just under twelve hours, Dead Fall is efficient and morally serious in equal measure.