KILLER THRILLER

4.5 stars out of 5

Improbable. Irreverent. Amusing. Fun characters. Those are among the words that popped into my mind as I read this well-written adventure "starring" writer Ian Ludlow and his very capable research assistant Margo French (the second in a series). Toss in a few zingers aimed at certain U.S. government leaders (a POTUS who is fond of Tweets that counter what other members of his cabinet say, for instance), and I was hooked from the git-go.

Ian is a successful writer of books featuring hulking Jack Reacher-like hero Clint Straker; in fact, a movie is in production in which an actor with Tom Cruise stature is [mis]cast in the lead role (with appropriate jabs about his inappropriateness similar to those author Lee Child has endured with the casting of Cruise as Reacher). The movie is being funded by a filthy rich Hong Kong businessman, mostly so his beautiful daughter can be the female star. Suddenly, he is kidnapped, and a top CIA official claims the Chinese did the dirty deed.

Problem is, the plots Ian dreams up for his books have a strange tendency to come true in real life; in this instance, his story involves an ongoing conspiracy by the Chinese to take over the United States. And guess what? The Chinese, who really are in the final stages of just such a takeover, get wind of his writing. Thinking Ian therefore must be some kind of spy charged with undoing their plan, they set out to thwart Ian before he can thwart them - scrutinizing every word Ian speaks to identify secret codes (which gets pretty funny). 

Ian, needless to say, is oblivious (at least at first) to the reality of his fiction - but the CIA is not. They try, without success, to recruit him as an undercover agent. Taking a different tack, they follow Ian and Margo to Hong Kong, where the Straker movie is being filmed. Their efforts to keep the pair safe are only marginally successful, resulting in a few wild chases and near misses (these, too, can be humorous; at one point, for instance, Margo, a lesbian, successfully fends off would-be killers with her dildo). 

And so it goes right up to the end. This is a series, so of course all's well that ends well, at least for Ian and Margo. The whole thing is a clever romp, and I'm already looking forward to the pair's next adventure. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review an advance copy.  

Killer Thriller by Lee Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer, February 2019); 277 pp.