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Rebel leader Mutebi hunts for Dr. Shawni Juma, a virologist working in Africa, when he learns she is also gathering intelligence on him kidnapping women and children in addition to boy soldiers. Working with Juma, ex-CIA agent Wilcox and his tactical response team link Mutebi to Szabo, a businessman disguised as a philanthropist with ties to Hollywood and Congress. To protect Juma and uncover Szabo's plan, Wilcox enlists an old friend and ex-KGB agent, Talanov, and, like it or not, Talanov's lover, Larisa, and his adopted daughter, Jinfei. Traitors whom Szabo plants within Wilcox's ranks complicate the mission.
Tension drives the plot forward at hyperspeed, between Africa, the Black Hawk control center, and American bases, as the team has only minutes to plan and execute every decision. From accepting two non-hired women onto the team, to relaying messages to Juma, to intercepting shipping containers of human trafficking victims, military-style communication in team briefs and efficient instructions keep the prose urgent. Movement excites the text at every turn. Exchanges between the team and its enemies provide contrast. For example, Wilcox's team argues at times, and Larisa and Jingfei convince Wilcox to include them. Talanov convinces Wilcox to follow the shipping containers to America rather than Spain. Team jokes cut the tension.
The book's exploration of the compromise and community involved in doing good, as well as the duplicitousness of some so-called do-gooders, such as Szabo, develops an inspiring moral. Juma, Talanov, Larisa, and Jingfei all lose close relatives. The book's conclusion, at a christening, shows the team becoming a non-traditional, cross-cultural family. Ready to lose their lives for each other, they face the dangers together, and the reward is to prepare for more.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review