Brendan Thorne, ex-Ranger, ex–killing machine (though only when the cause is just), has benched himself in Kenya. “No, never again killing,” he’s vowed, hoping to banish ghost-ridden nightmares. In another part of the world, however, U.S. President-Elect Gustave Wallberg is contending with ghosts of his own, and his experiences will send Thorne back into action. Wallberg has received a letter that terrifies him: “CONGRATULATIONS TO A DEAD PRESIDENT. CORWIN.” It’s the “Corwin” that chills the blood: Hal Corwin, Gus Wallberg’s former best friend and current bête noir, is an ex–Special Forces sniper of mythic reputation. A computer search has convinced Wallberg and his advisors that the best person to stop a Corwin assassination attempt is someone whose attributes, personality and experience are so like the assassin’s that the nemesis is his mirror image: Thorne, of course. And so the lethal cat-and-mouse game begins, the hunter-prey roles constantly shifting. But as Thorne soon learns, there’s another game afoot, one of Secrets and Lies having mostly to do with the nature of his enemy. Is Corwin really the brutal murderer all the president’s men say he is, or are both players being stalked?
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