The Lion (John Corey Series #5) »

With his taut, suspenseful, and well researched thrillers, Nelson DeMille has become one of the most popular writers working today, publishing bestseller after bestseller. In books such as Plum Island and Word of Honor, DeMille gives us breakneck plots featuring strong characters with difficult decisions to make, and readers can t tear their eyes away.

In this eagerly awaited follow-up to The Lion's Game, John Corey, former NYPD Homicide detective and special agent for the Anti-Terrorist Task Force, is back. And, unfortunately for Corey, so is Asad Khalil, the notorious Libyan terrorist otherwise known as "The Lion." Last we heard from him, Khali had claimed to be defecting to the US only to unleash the most horrific reign of terrorism ever to occur on American soil. While Corey and his partner, FBI agent Kate Mayfield, chased him across the country, Khalil methodically eliminated his victims one by one and then disappeared without a trace.

Now, years later, Khalil has returned to America to make good on his threats and take care of unfinished business. "The Lion" is a killing machine once again loose in America with a mission of revenge, and John Corey will stop at nothing to achieve his own goal — to find and kill Khahil.

Publishers Weekly

Scott Brick, narrator of 2000’s The Lion’s Game, has wisely been brought back to give voice to this sequel in which the titular master assassin Asad Khalil returns to the U.S. to murder everyone who ruined his fun the first time around, including wisecracking hard-boiled federal agent John Corey and his wife, FBI agent Kate Mayfield. The shocking first strike against Kate occurs in the middle of a recreational sky dive, smartly written by DeMille and heart-thumpingly enacted by Brick. The unwavering Khalil speaks in a slithery, chilling whisper, while series protagonist Corey is full of brashness and bravura. But as the plot proceeds like “a straight ball down the middle,” a description provided by the author in an interview with the narrator, both of the antagonists begin to display signs of strain. Thanks to Brick, they sound a little more anxious, uncertain, and human the closer they come to their final mano a mano confrontation. A Grand Central hardcover (Reviews, May 10). (June)