by Brad Taylor
Part of Pike Logan, book 18
First published 2024
Pike Logan receives urgent intelligence about a Russian threat in Sweden. Commander Victor Petrov of the Russian national guard has orders to assassinate a Swedish deputy foreign minister to block NATO expansion. Logan's mission seems straightforward: identify Petrov's target and prevent the killing. But he walks into a three-way battle between Putin's forces and a Ukrainian partisan group called the Wolves. These rebels have joined with Russian military intelligence traitors in an audacious plan to end the war by killing Putin himself. Putin knows about the conspiracy and has tasked Petrov with hunting down the traitors. When the gunfire stops, Logan faces a moral choice. He could stop the Wolves but believes their cause is just. Then he learns the devastating truth. Putin has activated Dead Man's Hand, a nuclear protocol that will automatically launch Russia's missiles if he dies. The Wolves' righteous mission could trigger global annihilation.
Genres: military-fiction, adventure, suspense, action, espionage, political-thriller
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, moral-dilemma
Setting: Russia, Sweden, Ukraine
Period: Contemporary
464 pages · Kindle Edition · William Morrow
Content warnings: violence