THE FINAL TWIST

4.5 stars out of 5

This action-packed adventure, the third in a series featuring Colter Shaw, begins as the self-described "reward seeker" is trying to follow clues left by his late father, Ashton, a well-educated man who, with Colter's mother Mary Dove and their children, left mainstream life to opt for a survivalist existence. Over the years, Ashton fought against what he considered to be corrupt corporations, including one named BlackBridge Corporate Solutions. One of that company's employees, it seems, not only turned up evidence of some kind of serious wrongdoing, but stole it; that man, now dead, apparently hid that evidence and Colter hopes to find it.

But almost before his investigation gets started, Colter is attacked by some very bad guys; on the verge of being killed and bringing the series to an abrupt end, he's saved at the last minute by a man who turns out to be his brother Russell. That comes as a total shock to Colter, who hasn't seen or heard from his brother in more than 10 years. The two of them meeting up after all this time and getting to re-know each other (well, as much as their secretive lives will allow) is a big part of the story that follows.

As all this is sorted out, Colter gets an assignment on his day job, which basically is a finder of missing persons; in this case, it's a daughter who's gone missing. The reward money is minuscule - the mother can scrape together $1,750 at most - but he sympathizes and agrees to take the case (thus providing a secondary storyline for the book). Most everything else is action, all underscored by flashbacks to the intense, hard-core survival training the brothers got from their late father. 

So what prompted me to give this book fewer than the five stars I gave the other two (The Never Game and The Goodbye Man)? Because for the first third or so it somehow felt disjointed - like I was missing something and couldn't quite figure out what. But then I realized it's been a while since I read the previous book - and if I'm honest, I have to admit that because I read so many books in a given year (141 in 2020), once I reach that final page and finish writing my review of any given one, I've forgotten most of what was between the pages. The good news is that I went back and reread those earlier reviews, and most of what I was reading now became much more clear. My advice, then, is this: If you haven't read at least one of the first two books in this series, do it before you tackle this one. You won't be sorry, because they're both terrific.

In the end, this one, too, is an exciting, well-written tale with an entertaining plot and intriguing characters that left me looking forward to the next installment. Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with a pre-release copy to read and review.

The Final Twist by Jeffery Deaver (G.P. Putnam's Sons, May 2021); 416 pp.