“Fly across the Arctic in winter, violate Russian territory. Maybe go for a dive and blow some things up.” — David Slaton in “Assassin’s Edge”
As I’ve gotten to know the writing of author Ward Larsen over the past few years, I’ve come to appreciate the fact that the author doesn’t write the same book twice.
His eighth David Slaton thriller — “Assassin’s Edge” — illustrates that point.
Taken in total with his previous two novels — 2020’s “Assassin’s Strike” (read my review) and 2019’s “Assassin’s Revenge” (read my review) — you see a thriller writer who is willing to mix things up.
That makes for an enjoyable reading experience.
“Assassin’s Edge” finds Slaton (a former Mossad “kidon” – assassin) called into duty to find the daughter of former Mossad colleague Anton Bloch.
The disappearance of Bloch’s daughter in Kazakhstan and a downed U.S. RC-135 (known as “Raven 44”) along Russia’s northern border are somehow intertwined.
Our protagonist has to put these seemingly unrelated puzzle pieces together — in a mission that finds Slaton hopping across the globe as he wrestles past demons and works to thwart a larger geopolitical threat.
He has to deal with a shadowy operator known as Lazarus, a mysterious cabal known as the Trident, suspicious vessels operating in the open seas, and a whole host of staples familiar in today's espionage thrillers.
Larsen’s smooth prose and deft handling of multiple plot threads illustrates his skill in the thriller genre. He works diligently to keep an authentic feel in “Assassin’s Edge.”
A former U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, Larsen often gives military aircraft starring roles in his novels. In addition to the RC-135 mentioned earlier, he also features the venerable V-22 Osprey in the narrative (a plane I find fascinating and first learned about in Dale Brown’s 1990 novel “Hammerheads”).
Larsen dedicates this novel to the late David Hagberg — a thriller writer I first read in 1990 (it was the Kirk McGarvey thriller “Countdown”). Both authors share the same publisher and I decided to pull out Hagberg’s 1995 novel “High Flight” for this occasion:
While Larsen’s thrillers are current and topical, his stories exude a vibe that would have felt right at home alongside retro-masters like Hagberg, Clancy, Coonts, and Ludlum back in the day.
If you enjoy espionage thrillers, I’d recommend you check out the novels of Ward Larsen. His books can be read in any order, and “Assassin’s Edge” is a good place to jump in.
You can order your copy of “Assassin’s Edge” here.
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