Burning Bright

This is the 2nd installment in the "Peter Ash" series by Nick Petrie. Peter Ash is a veteran who has returned from Afghanistan with PTSD, characterized primarily by debilitating anxiety attacks whenever he is in enclosed spaces. He sleeps outside, regardless of the weather. See my earlier post for the first book in the series, The Drifter, for more background; you'll want to read the first book to truly appreciate one of the key relationships in this book.

Peter spends months at a time backpacking in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, but when he encounters a hungry grizzly preparing for hibernation, he survives by climbing a tree. Surprisingly, he finds a set of climbing ropes that lead him into an encounter with June Cassidy, a journalist who is being pursued by men claiming to be from the government. Based on past interactions with these men, June is pretty sure their intentions are harmful rather than helpful. June's mother, Stanford professor and brilliant computer scientist. Hazel Cassidy, was recently killed in a hit and run. When June finds her office at Stanford ransacked, June begins to fear that these men want a new AI program Professor Cassidy was working on, and they think June can lead them to it. June is extremely smart in her own right, although a bit unfocused in her life, but she is clearly outnumbered and out-resourced in this fight. Peter offers to help. He reminds me a bit of that old TV series, The Enforcer, in coming to the aid of the underdog, or more currently, those favoring the "Jack Reacher" series by Lee Child will find a similar sort of lone hero here. June reluctantly agrees, and as they try to evade the hunters, Peter finds himself growing increasingly attached to June.  As they untangle the strings controlling the hunters, the clues lead them to June's estranged father, but is he the perpetrator or another victim? 

Publishers' Weekly's only downbeat is that the book was not tightly edited. I didn't find that it detracted from a sense of a fast moving storyline.  Kirkus calls it a "fine thriller" and anticipates the continuation of the series.