Book review: Thor casts ‘Shadow of Doubt’ as thrilling spy adventure

 

In the world of espionage, trust is the currency upon which everything trades.

When it comes to trust, superspy Scot Harvath is nearly broke. Manipulated by his past on two fronts – foreign and domestic – Harvath must choose between serving his country or spying on his fiancé, Solvi Kolstad, a deputy director in the Norwegian Intelligence Service. She has just taken into custody a high-ranking Russian official whose secrets can alter world events and either trigger or prevent nuclear war between Russia and the West.

Complicating things are the secret transport of a suspicious cargo from Russia to Belarus and the murder of a French intelligence officer who was about to crack the case wide open. With the CIA pressing on Harvath and the Norwegian Intelligence Service hunting Kolstad, the two must play the Russian agent’s wily game or lose everything.

Scot Harvath is at his best when taking on former Soviets but this time it’s personal and political on many, overlapping levels. Author Brad Thor winds his hero breathlessly through a tangle of heart-pounding adventures and intrigue in “Shadow of Doubt.” The 23rd book in the Harvath series retraces the past and blazes new trails in a mirror image of events yet to play out in real life. Ever the student of global politics, Thor has a knack for predicting future events and wrapping them in his fictional thrillers. By the time real events unfold, it’s old news to Thor’s readers.

“Shadow of Doubt” doubles down on the stakes by blending love, trust, and loyalty in a tight cord that is woven through a web of betrayal and deceit – all on a backdrop of nuclear tensions with dire global consequences. Not knowing where the twists and turns will take you in this page-turner makes “Shadow of Doubt” the biggest and best thriller of the year.

(Shadow of Doubt: A thriller by Brad Thor, Emily Bestler Books/Simon and Schuster, 360 pages, available Aug. 6, 2024, $29.99/U.S.)