Suspense

Nothing even remotely thrilling about this thriller. Shallow. Little to no character development. ( )

Katia is accused of killing Emerson Pike, who brought her to San Diego from Costa Rica because of some pictures Katia's mother took in Columbia, and his housekeeper. Katia hires Paul Madriani to be her defense lawyer and Madriani is soon involved in a sprawling case involving terrorists and assassins. A decent thriller with a few too many subplots and lucky coincidences. ( )

Guardian of Lies has what is at times a bit of a convoluted tale with many elements that are hard to swallow, yet at the same time can be compelling and gripping. The story centers around Katia, a woman from Costa Rica who, although not abducted, is being held almost like a prisoner by the exceedingly polite former spy master Emerson Pike. Pike has an obsession with a series of photographs of Pike's mother, which leads to an old Cold War Russian, who is now working with the Castro regime and Middle Eastern terrorists. It gets a bit hard to follow, which is part of the problem with this novel.

After Pike is murdered, Katia turns to attorney Paul Madriani, after a chance meeting. Madriani is determined to help Katia, and in the process uncovers much of the mystery behind this novel. The novel works at a fast pace, and makes the reader wan to continue reading, but much of the time is hard to follow. The characters aren't terribly compelling. The villainous characters aren't remotely believable and often times hard to take seriously. There's enough in this novel that makes it worth reading, but not enough that I would highly recommend it.

Carl Alves - author of Blood Street ( )

Defense attorney Paul Madriani gets caught in a web of deceit and murder involving Cold War secrets, a rare coin dealer who once worked for the CIA, and a furious assassin in one of the most entertaining novels yet in this New York Times bestselling series.

A woman pauses in the hallway of a darkened San Diego beach house at night - listening for just the right moment when she can flee before her companion notices that she's gone.

A man outside watches the same mansion, waiting for a sign that he can enter on his mission of blood and carnage.

So begins this riveting new tale about Paul Madriani and his latest case - that of Katia, a woman accused of an unlikely crime - a trial that will unravel a careful but horrifying conspiracy. Madriani soon realizes that he's signed onto something much more sinister than a botched heist. As he searches for the truth that will clear Katia's name, he finds himself on a path that takes him from Southern California to Costa Rica, and, ultimately, to a secret buried since Castro's rise to power.

Together with his partner, Harry Hinds, Madriani must piece together the threads of a decades-old conspiracy involving priceless gold coins, an aging American spy, a disaffected Russian soldier, and a forgotten weapon from the days of JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis. As the separate strands of the story come together, Madriani finds information that will ultimately lead him to the one person who holds the key to it all: a man some call "The Guardian of Lies." ( )