Inside threat A novel

Quirk (Red Warning, 2022) is known as a creator of tense page-turners with touches of fine writing and, maybe best of all, insider dope. In his latest, the air pressure in the Oval Office is kept high to prevent biological or chemical attacks. As the title says, the threat to the president's administration is now coming from inside. The reasons aren't clear until the bloody finale, but there's a hint early on when the Prez sez he'd like legislation passed that benefits somebody besides the fat cats. The evil insiders don't bother with hocus-pocused air. They lead a movie-style conspiracy involving murders, bombs, widescreen explosions, and automatic weapons attacks. The president and his Secret Service agents--troubled souls, dipped in cynicism but secretly longing to believe--move the administration to Raven Rock Mountain Complex, an actual massive underground military installation in Pennsylvania. The bad news? Wodges of the novel are tours of the place, slowing the plot and bollixing the language: for instance, on "the west side marked M-27, thirty feet south of the entrance to C." Wait for the blood-churning finale. It makes the longueurs worthwhile.

Quirk (Red Warning) returns to the world of the U.S. Secret Service in this page-turning thriller. Secret Service agent Eric Hill, stuck on temporary desk duty after a physical confrontation with a cabinet official, is fed up with D.C. politics and contemplating retirement. Meanwhile, rumors swirl of Operation V, either a seditious conspiracy to remove the president from office or the president's own plot to wield totalitarian power. After an assassination attempt at the White House is foiled by Hill and rookie agent Amber Cody, the president and his inner circle are dispatched to a Cold War-era bunker in Pennsylvania. But rather than escaping from danger, Hill realizes they've barricaded themselves in with their attackers. Quirk masterfully ramps up the tension and paranoia as the body count rises, agents turn on each other, and Hill tries to suss out who is the greater threat: the traitors or the man he has sworn to protect. The breakneck pace never flags, and the interplay between Hill's world-weary cynicism and Cody's institutional confidence is a delight. Readers will be eager for a sequel. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (June)