Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Three-Edged Sword


Jeff Lindsay, who wrote the Dexter series, has also created a series featuring Riley Wolfe, who considers himself to be the "world's best thief"--the harder the challenge, the more Riley wants to try and steal it. This is the 3rd installment in that series and, although this book can certainly stand alone, there would be some benefits to reading the 2 previous books to better understand the relationship dynamics between Riley and his partner, art forger extraordinaire Monique, who now lies in a coma. She is the only person Riley cares about besides his mother, who has been in a coma and on life support for years. Riley is rich and can afford to keep then alive and he continues his career of crime just for the fun of it. When he is kidnapped by a ruthless CIA team leader, however, he is not amused. Chase Prescott wants Riley to steal a thumb-drive containing top secret information from a Russian spy who has taken refuge in an out-of-service lighthouse off the coast of Lithuania that now houses his extensive art and documents collections. To ensure Riley's cooperation, Prescott has also kidnapped Monique and Riley's mother. Riley thrives on challenge but not on endangering his loved-ones, especially when their captor would do anything to get what he wants.

Publishers Weekly offers a lukewarm endorsement. "The efforts of FBI agent Frank Delgado and his hacker sidekick, Miranda Shaleki, to locate Wolfe's mother add to the suspense, and the tip of the cap to Edgar Allan Poe at the climax is effectively chilling, but the constant switches in point of view chop up the narrative flow, and the chapters involving Monique distract from the main plotline." Kirkus is more positive, saying: "Lindsay supplies an effortless, weightless supply of complications apparently designed to keep the overscaled enterprise, which has a lot more than three edges, from shutting down too soon. The result is a perfect beach read for anyone bound for the islands of Lithuania."

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