In the fourth Terminal List thriller (following Savage Son, 2020), former Navy SEAL James Reece is tasked with his most dangerous mission yet: to foil an Iranian terrorist plot to destroy the U.S. The mission is sanctioned by the new U.S. president, an ambitious and popular man, who, as it turns out, has some things to hide. It's no coincidence that Carr is publishing a story about a terrorist plot against the U.S. nearly 20 years after the events of 9/11; in fact, the attacks and their aftermath are essential to the story. The first Reece novel, 2018's The Terminal List, was a revenge thriller, with Reece straddling the line between hero and villain; in subsequent books, he is clearly the hero, a sort of one-man army who risks his life for his country. Carr continues to draw on his own experiences as a SEAL to give the story a level of realism that writers who've not actually served sometimes have a hard time achieving.

Alec Christensen has been on a 20-year mission to avenge the death of his fiancée in the 2001 World Trade Center attack, in bestseller Carr's rousing fourth Terminal List thriller (after 2020's Savage Son). First with military service, then a congressional office, and now as the U.S. president, Christensen finally has access to the classified information he's long sought. He tasks former Navy SEAL James Reece, another warrior hell-bent on revenge, with eliminating the 9/11 conspirators still at large. The terrorists, meanwhile, haven't spent the past two decades resting on their victims ashes, and are actively planning a far deadlier mission: the release of a biological weapon that will force the president to destroy infected American cities with powerful fuel-air bombs, killing millions. Reece scrambles to identify the bioweapon, even as he's hunted by both enemy assassins and private American mercenaries working for the president's political rival. Carr delivers engrossing backstory, incorporates current events seamlessly, and never flinches from breathless depictions of violence. Military action fans will find plenty to like. Agent: Alexandra Machinist, ICM Partners. (Apr.)