Why You'll Love This
A Russian spy vanishes from a Hamptons party with a nuclear device — and the only man who sees it coming is officially nobody's problem anymore.
- Great if you want: Cold War-era tension wrapped in modern geopolitical stakes
- The experience: Fast and propulsive — DeMille keeps the pressure building steadily
- The writing: Corey's wisecracking first-person voice is the whole reason to be here
- Skip if: You're new to the series — Corey's charm is earned over time
About This Book
When a Russian intelligence officer vanishes from an oligarch's Hamptons party, most people would assume it's someone else's problem. John Corey doesn't have that luxury — and wouldn't exercise it even if he did. Assigned to the Diplomatic Surveillance Group after years on the Anti-Terrorist Task Force, Corey is supposed to be winding down, watching Russian diplomats shuffle in and out of UN functions. Instead, he finds himself chasing a threat that the government hasn't caught up to yet: a resurgent Russia with something catastrophic in motion. The stakes are enormous, the clock is tight, and the geography — from Manhattan to the Long Island shore — gives the danger an unsettling proximity.
What makes this one worth reading is DeMille's command of pace and personality. Corey's first-person narration is sharp, sardonic, and relentlessly entertaining without undercutting the genuine tension underneath. DeMille walks a tonal tightrope that few thriller writers manage — keeping the wit alive while the threat stays credible. The novel moves with discipline, never bloating its 311 pages, and delivers the kind of propulsive, character-driven storytelling that makes the hours disappear.
