Shadow of Doubt, A Thriller
Author: Brad Thor
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler
ISBN: 9781982182236
“The truth is rarely pure and never simple.” This quote from Oscar Wilde aptly describes any good political thriller. And Brad Thor chose this quote to open the latest instalment in his Scot Harvath series, Shadow of Doubt.
The book's cover depicts a flag at half-staff in front of the Capitol, depicting a global chess game at play with consequences that could be more lethal than anyone could imagine.
Former Special Ops officer and current CIA agent Scot Harvath is called upon to make some difficult personal and moral decisions that will impact his own actions and the fate of millions.
Meanwhile, five Russian aircrafts have entered Belarusian airspace and have a special delivery with them. They are carrying shipments of missiles and bombs three times more powerful than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The implications of this act go far beyond the current war with Ukraine and puts the US and their allies on high alert.
Coincidentally, Sølvi Kolstad, Harvath’s girlfriend and a member of the Norwegian Intelligence Service, is part of an operation involving a Russian defector who will play a big role in the political games that have just begun. Harvath must make a quick decision to support Kolstad while keeping the best interests of his own country in mind. Representing the CIA, Harvath knows that the Russian defector is Leonid Grechko. What he needs to ascertain is how he can be of service to the US based on the recent developments with Russia.
When Kolstad and her team are attacked at a safehouse, she realises that there is a leak inside her own agency. She now turns to Harvath and his colleagues from the Carlton Group to help with a mission that will get Grechko in touch with a Russian woman called Inessa Surkova.
Grechko was, until recently, a high-ranking operative in Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, where he was in charge of their “Active Measures” department and played a prominent role in shaping world events via political warfare through whatever means necessary - including espionage, sabotage, assassination, and propaganda.
Grechko knows all about Harvath’s revenge campaign against the Russians responsible for the murder of his wife. He also is aware that Harvath did not get to make everyone pay and can point him in the right direction if he can communicate with Inessa.
Meanwhile, in the middle of Paris, a powerful French national is found brutally murdered in his apartment. Agent Karine Brunelle does not believe that Jean-Jacques Jadot was the victim of a random burglary and launches a full investigation. The conspiracy that she and her team uncover will shake the entire global political landscape and it has a direct link with Harvath’s case.
The conflagration that is about to explode in the final act of this chilling book comes from the three-way collision of storylines: Harvath and Kolstad’s Russian mission with Grechko, Brunelle’s Paris investigation, and the White House's response to everything that's going on.
Thor’s Shadow of Doubt shows that he is still one of the best thriller writers around today. This book offers readers the heart-pounding suspense that drives the story all the way.
In fact, Thor’s unparalleled ability to blend real-world events with gripping fiction has been coined “faction” because it’s nearly impossible to spot the line where facts end and fiction begins. That is certainly the case here, as Thor writes up another twisting, adrenaline-fueled threat scenario that’ll keep the readers flipping the pages.