Choke Point (A Risk Agent Novel)
Rutherford Risk agents Grace Chu and John Knox return (after The Risk Agent, 2012), this time to Amsterdam’s hidden-in-plain-sight underworld, where they’re assigned to shut down a recently exposed child-labor operation. The criminals quickly silence witnesses by kidnapping an escaped child worker and killing an investigating EU official, shielding themselves behind an army of thugs and neighborhood spies. Working without a backup team, Chu and Knox are forced to execute a delicate scheme of tandem undercover operations with each cover dangerously close to outing the next. Unexpectedly, Rutherford Risk decides to pull out, leaving the pair only hours to track the ringleaders and rescue the children. The assignment’s intensity targets both characters’ Achilles heels, and the resulting missteps further the action and highlight humanizing flaws. Knox lowers his guard for a reckless affair, and Chu struggles to establish her position in the male-dominated security industry, while both remain confused by the feelings they each to their partnership. It’s obvious why Pearson has earned praise as thriller grand master; the pacing is flawlessly anxiety ridden, and the investigative elements are richly layered, particularly regarding undercover operations and tech espionage. --Christine Tran