The Assassin

by Stephen Coonts

First published 2008

Admiral Jake Grafton sends special agent Tommy Carmellini into a deadly game of hunter and hunted. Abu Qasim, the Al Qaeda mastermind who nearly bombed the G-8 summit in Paris, has escaped American custody and now stalks his enemies. A secret group of Western industrialists and politicians decided to eliminate the terrorist before he strikes again. But when a Russian dissident dies from poison in London, the hunters become the hunted. Someone leaked their identities to Qasim, and he methodically kills the vigilante team members. Carmellini tracks Marisa Petrou, a beautiful Frenchwoman who might be Qasim's daughter. She has her own conflicted reasons for keeping the terrorist alive or seeing him dead. Meanwhile, Qasim prepares his ultimate revenge, a scheme years in the making. Carmellini races to stop the assassinations and prevent Qasim from unleashing his final act of terror.

Genres: military-fiction, adventure, suspense, action, espionage, political-thriller

Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: cat-and-mouse, enemies-to-lovers

Setting: France, London, Paris, Russia

Period: 21st-century

352 pages · Hardcover · St. Martin's Press

Content warnings: violence

More by Stephen Coonts

Readers who liked The Assassin also liked

View on Siftivo