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Paul Luguire, a Federal Reserve executive, supposedly returns home and commits suicide. No one understands why—especially since he’d made plans to take his grandson to a ball game the next day. But no other evidence exists to suggest otherwise, so the police treat it as an open and shut case.
Paul’s bodyguard, Russell Mullins, doesn’t believe that his employer took his own life, so he starts an investigation that stirs up a whole heap of trouble. It just might make him a target in a possible cover-up—but is it a cover-up or something else? Paul tracks down 12 related targets, but he can’t quite figure out why they were targets in the first place. There’s also evidence that there might be a 13th target, but he doesn’t know if it’s a person or place.
Russell hooks up with Amanda Church, who works for the Secret Service. Together, they uncover a possible international money laundering operation and cyber crime involving the ECSAP (Electronic Crimes Special Agent Program). Clues lead to more questions, but they’re no closer to finding the 13th target—and time is ticking down.
The 13th Target is a complicated thriller that will continue to send you down blind alleys and around dangerous corners until everything gets tangled up in your mind, leaving you with no hope of figuring it all out before the end. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does get confusing.
Fortunately, everything does come together and begin to make sense as the story nears its end. But while you might have your suspicions, you’ll never quite know which characters are good and which ones are bad.
Russell Mullins, meanwhile, is an ordinary hero who uses his intelligence rather than brute force to solve problems—but that doesn’t mean he’s not handy with the muscle when it’s called for. He’s a likable guy who goes the distance for victims. Determined and driven, he gets in there and fights to find the truth.
If you can hold on through the sometimes overly-complicated plot, the climax and conclusion of The 13th Target will surprise you, leaving you shocked and breathless—and making the read entirely worth it. I hope to see Russell Mullins in future thrillers.
