Once a thief

In the fourth Simon Riske thriller, the freelance spy is absolutely thrilled with himself. After restoring a rare automobile, he has sold it for a fortune to a private collector. Then there's trouble. The anonymous collector is now claiming that the car's a fake. Determined to prove the car's bona fides and, in the process, unmask the identity of the collector, Simon runs across a woman who's trying to solve her father's murder. Surprise, surprise: Simon and the woman may be chasing the same person. Like the previous Riske novels, this one is heavy on action and rather lighter on character development. Riske paints his characters in broad strokes, much in the manner of Ian Fleming in the Bond novels, giving us the big picture and letting us fill in the small details from our imaginations. In fact, comparison to the Bond novels is apt in many ways: the dashing spy, the snappy dialogue, the glamorous locales (in this case, Corsica, the French Alps, and Switzerland, among others). An entertaining escapist adventure.

In Edgar finalist Reich's heart-pounding fourth outing for freelance London spy Simon Riske (after 2020's The Palace), Riske's talent for restoring vintage Ferraris puts him in harm's way. The 1963 Ferrari that his client just sold for $102 million didn't have the original gearbox, and the buyer's representative, Sylvie Bettencourt, demands that Riske present her with the gearbox or be charged a $10 million fee with the violent "or else" supplied by her thuggish assistant. A consultation with a friend at Lloyd's of London reveals that Bettencourt has a reputation for buying up valuable items, from art to real estate, with money that's unlikely to be legitimate. Riske has little choice but to try to recover the gearbox. Meanwhile, a bank manager in Switzerland has been killed with a car bomb, and his daughter, Anna Bildt, sets out to find his killer. Some scenic locales, including Mediterranean islands, serve as backdrops to the linked quests of Riske and Bildt. Reich combines great action with surprises readers won't see coming. One doesn't have to care much about cars or high finance to enjoy this cinematic thriller. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management. (Apr.)

Simon Riske drives again but not as fast. Plying his ostensible trade as a restorer of sexy European sports cars, freelance spy Riske is in California shepherding a classic Ferrari through an auction. The car sells for $102 million, a record, and everyone is happy. Well, not everyone. The restoration did not include a critical piece of original equipment, for the very good reason that the piece was lost. But suddenly the buyer, Sylvie Bettencourt, receives news that the piece does exist, and she demands Riske find it and complete the restoration. Of course it's not that easy. Riske and his team had already scoured the mechanical world for the piece, and though they resume the search, there are no new leads. As a sidebar to the search for the gearbox, Riske researched Bettencourt and learned she was a major player in the process of laundering the fortunes of Russian oligarchs. Then Bettencourt blackmails Riske into helping her steal back some money she claims her superior has taken, and Riske becomes a mole spying on Bettencourt. In a further plot development, Carl Bildt, a Danish banker who managed the accounts Bettencourt services, is murdered, and his daughter Anna undertakes to find the killers. With Riske unraveling the oligarchical knot from the Bettencourt end and Anna pursuing her father's killers, the extent of the laundering scheme is revealed. But these are Russian fortunes, and there is the obligatory presence of hulking violent enforcers, callous ultrarich misogynists, and even a teasing pirouette by Novichok, a nerve agent. Riske is a raffish rogue, ready to ride or preferably drive a Ferrari in whatever quixotic enterprise presents itself, but in this adventure he is somewhat subdued--still irresistible, still a seasoned street fighter, but somehow less visceral. Intricately plotted, the novel reaches a climax that is somewhat surprising yet disappointing, as if the magician had pulled a mouse from his hat. Riske is still Riske, and the automotive world is still the better for it. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.