Review by Booklist Review
Addison McKeller, wife and mother, tries to contact her husband after he's gone off on a business trip. Here trouble starts, and reader heading into prolific and popular Atkins' latest thriller may suspect that he's remaking The Lady Vanishes. Failing to connect, Addison finds that her husband's business doesn't actually exist. When she researches his name, she discovers he's been dead for at least a decade. As the plot spins in widening gyres, reaching to Dubai, far beyond the boundaries of Memphis, Atkins brings in Gaultier, a polished, Bondish villain who puffs pricey cigars and wears ivory cufflinks shaped like human skulls; the scruffy American Atkins calls the One-Armed Man; and longtime Russian arms dealer Anatoliy Zub, "who had so much blood on his hands, he was practically dripping." Addison herself is in serious danger as the bad guys and plot threads multiply and tropes pile up, feeling a bit worn. But the story is redeemed by some intriguing Elvis connections and the intervention of a family friend, the highly respected and toughly pragmatic Black Memphis detective, Porter Hayes.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
International intrigue and classic P.I. sleuthing combine in this deliciously complex thriller from bestseller Atkins (the Quinn Colson series). Addison McKellar has grown used to her husband Dean's frequent work-related absences, but after several days pass without a word from him, she worries something bad has happened. Though Dean's friends and associates at his Memphis construction firm assure Addison she's overreacting, she follows her father's advice and hires private investigator Porter Hayes. It doesn't take long for the former cop and Vietnam vet to discover that Dean is not the man he claims to be, kick-starting a globe-trotting adventure involving a B-movie actress, Russian mobsters, and a suave French criminal, each of whom are after a mysterious cache of holy relics in transit from Turkey to Memphis. Atkins has loads of fun marrying his hardboiled sensibility to the gonzo espionage plot, and relies on his strengths as a storyteller to keep the whole thing from running off the rails. This should win Atkins oodles of new fans. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (June)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
What begins as another of Atkins' trademark regional crime tales blossoms into a story of international intrigue without ever abandoning its base. Addison McKellar's husband, Dean, has gone AWOL once before, returning home after five days with no explanation to speak of. So she doesn't get seriously alarmed till he's been gone a whole week. What tips the balance this time isn't the extra two days, but her visit to the Cotton Exchange Building: The news that McKellar Construction hasn't had an office there for at least two years sends Addison first to the Memphis police, who don't believe that Dean is missing, and then to Porter Hayes, "the Black Sherlock Holmes," who does. As the question of what Dean's up to morphs into the question of who Dean really is, Atkins skillfully draws in more players who seem summoned from different worlds. Joanna Grayson, who co-starred with Elvis Presley in a movie half a century ago, is still working the connection to attract fans of the King. Her client Leslie Grimes is the billionaire owner of a chain of Christian gift shops. One-armed Jack Dumas is an arms dealer whose partner, Peter Collinson, has vanished with a bulging wallet. Omar, a sketchy Turkish dealer, has been killed in a shopping mall's security warren. Then, shortly after he's reported dead, Dean McKellar returns to his hearth and home, and things become much, much worse. He won't answer Addison's simplest questions; he casts doubt on everything she says; he goes out of his way to embarrass her in front of their friends; and he ends up turning their children, along with virtually everyone else in her life, against her. Forget about the MacGuffin that knits these threads together and enjoy Atkins' biggest, boldest thrill ride yet. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
