Wolf Trap

Starred review from November 28, 2022
In this exhilarating thriller from Sullivan (Sleeping Bear), U.S. president Angela Buchanan is on the brink of a major political victory with the imminent signing of a sweeping international climate-change agreement. But when “the world’s seven experimental ‘clean energy’ thorium molten salt reactors” simultaneously melt down, a special group of U.S. intelligence officials and operatives from multiple agencies and departments must try to find the conspirators responsible before the nations assemble in Davos, Switzerland, to finalize the treaty. Brian “Lobo” Rhome, once a paramilitary officer with Ground Branch, the CIA’s most elite covert ops force, and the haunted lone survivor of an al-Qaeda ambush in Pakistan, now hides in the Montana backcountry, trying to leave his military past behind. Drawn back into the fold to enact revenge on the terrorist who slaughtered his comrades, Rhome finds himself in the center of the battle to save Buchanan and prevent a global war over fossil fuels. Sullivan’s clever rhetorical tricks will keep even savvy readers in the dark while he ratchets the tension ever higher. By the end, readers will be exhausted, breathless, and eager for further Ground Branch adventures. Sullivan is a writer to watch. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

February 1, 2023
Readers who were looking forward to a sequel to the author's terrific debut, Sleeping Bear (2021), will just have to keep waiting. Sullivan's second novel is something entirely different, with new characters and a new story. Brian Rhome, a former member of a highly secret branch of the CIA, reluctantly polishes off his old skills and goes back into the field to stop a conspiracy that threatens the stability of the American government. While this novel lacks the element of surprise that made Sleeping Bear so gripping (it started out as one kind of story, then turned into another), it's a solid, well-crafted thriller that will keep readers turning the pages. Brian Rhome is a good character, and he seems to be intended to anchor a series, which would be just fine, since we get the sense that there is a lot of his tumultuous past that remains unexplored.

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