This is a sequel to “The Lion’s Game.” If you’ve read other books by DeMille, you know you’re in for a roller coast ride. The hero, John Corey, is a version of Jack Bauer (24 TV series) with the smart mouth of Homer Simpson. It’s a good combination.
Corey returns to Yemen, this time in order to track down the master mind behind the U.S.S. Cole bombing (code name The Panther). Only soon he finds out that he may be the one that’s being hunted. And it doesn’t help when your bosses give you reason to think they’re out to get you too.
You see, there’s bad blood between Corey and the CIA ever since Corey’s wife, also CIA, had to kill her former CIA boss. You’ll have to read the previous book to find out the details, but it’s also a good book.
So, Corey definitely has his hands full. The Panther knows about Corey, as the terrorist Corey killed in Lion’s Game was a fellow Jihadist. He’s determined that The Panther is in the vicinity, now all he has to do is get himself kidnapped, advertise it, and wait for The Panther to show up and intercede.
And by interceding, I mean wrest Corey from the kidnappers and exact revenge.
In addition to some good action, there’s a very good “head game” going on in this book and it adds some good spice to this very good book.