The Federal Reserve at first seems an odd topic for Thor's 12th Scot Harvath thriller (after Black List), but the inventive author finds ways to make this august body compelling. It does not hurt that a seemingly deranged serial killer is knocking off potential candidates for head of the Fed, with most of the murders staged at the locales of significant Revolutionary War events in Boston. Harvath teams with a luscious Boston homicide cop to unravel a plot that grows more complex as the proceedings bloodily advance. Armand Schultz's smooth reading, including a delightful Boston accent, helps propel the breakneck tale. Verdict Highly recommended for fans of Thor and conspiracy yarns in general.-Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr. Lib. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

In Thor's latest, an assassin is viciously reducing the short list of candidates for the top job at the Federal Reserve, and it's up to rugged, hypereffective private intelligence operative Scot Harvath to halt the hits. He and a small band of associates-including his outspoken boss, Reed Carlton, and Boston detective Lara Cordero-are pitted against the wealthy and powerful members of a secret cabal. Armand Schultz makes good use of no-frills narration to deliver the author's prose crisply, while smartly adjusting his pacing during action sequences, dialogue-rich scenes, and paragraphs detailing events in American history. His aging Carlton is gruff and demanding. The head villains snarl. The women are treated to acceptable upper-register voices. And other characters are provided appropriate accents-for example, an exaggerated, gravelly Boston dialect for a Southie-born, hardboiled detective. As for Harvath, Schultz speaks in a confident, low rumble that softens in the course of the operative's romance with Cordero, who, at book's end, is strong enough to suggest a big change in his future. An Atria/Emily Bestler hardcover. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.