Whew, I just finished the book and I’m still reeling.

All of you who adore spy thrillers, this is for you.

All of you who love lawyers-in-peril novels, this is for you. (Is that a genre? It should be.)

For all of you who yawn at the CIA and roll your eyes at lawyers, this book is for you, too. I dare you to read only one page. You won’t be able to.

This is the 3rd book in the series but it works as a standalone. Also, there’s a 4th book coming out soon. (Does Frieden have time to breathe? Seriously. Reading his bio makes me exhausted.)

The novel moves deftly across the globe. It moves from conference rooms in Ukraine, hurricane-devastated New Orleans, the basement of an abandoned elementary school in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the picturesque Maldives, and others.

Most importantly, we experience North Korea. The isolation. The fear. The sense that everything is a façade, no one can trusted, and the regime’s real power is the constant threat of death. As Jonathan puts it, “being alive in this hermit kingdom was a privilege, not a right” (p. 277)

Frieden has traveled to these locations, including North Korea (really!), and his research shows. He describes geography and circumstances in ways that only someone who’s experienced them first hand could. But he doesn’t allow the research to overwhelm the story. Everything propels the story forward.

Both Jonathan and Linda, as lead characters, are appealing. Jonathan is resourceful, stubborn, quick-witted and has a dry sense of humor. (Some of the banter between he and foreign officials is sharp-edged but humorous.) He longs to reunite with Linda. I could feel his despair, weariness, and grief over losing her.

Linda is also resourceful and tough. Now that she’s recovering from addiction, Linda’s career as a journalist has reignited. I sensed that she wants to reunite with her ex, but wants to be stronger before taking that step.

Other characters are equally well-developed. One person surprised me with a sudden (but not unrealistic) change of heart that made him sympathetic.

Probably my only complaints are a few typos. Also, though there are helpful maps at the beginning of the novel, I was reading on a PDF file and it was difficult to refer back to those maps when necessary. I have no idea if this is an issue with e-readers, as I don’t have one. It’s a non-issue with hard copies.

One of the characters calls himself a “magician,” but the real magician is A.C. Frieden for writing an addictive, devastating, roller-coaster ride of a novel that kept me turning pages–even when I had a migraine. I had to find out what happens to Jonathan Brooks and Linda Fabre Brooks.

When I did, I clicked out of the downloaded file on my phone and stared at the black screen for a long time. Speechless. Silent. I felt a bit like I had just escaped danger and would need a long time to process what happened.

(Note: I read an ARC. I was not required to write a good review . . . but I did! This review appears on my personal blog, https://meredithrankin.com/ with additional "bonus tips for writers" about what I, as a writer, learned from reading this book.) ( )