Book #30 of 2024
Jim Geraghty has just released book number four in his Dangerous Clique series, and it continues his winning streak. The series began with Between Two Scorpions, continued with Hunting Four Horsemen and Gathering Five Storms, and now we have Dueling Six Demons (don’t ask me why there is no “Three” title; I have no idea!).
The Dangerous Clique is led by CIA agent Katrina Leonidivna, a deadly assassin, and it includes her husband, FBI agent Alec Flanagan, ex-Army Ranger Ward Rutledge, computer hacker Dee, and fellow FBI agent Elaine.Kopek. What sets Geraghty’s books apart from the typical action/thriller yarn is his humor. Alec is always making wisecracks, usually based on his vast knowledge of pop culture. There are plenty of edge-of-your-seat covert operations in the books, but they are leavened by the humor and humanity of the clique members.
If you haven’t read any of this series, I highly recommend you start at the beginning with Between Two Scorpions. There are lots of references to earlier events and characters that, while it’s not absolutely necessary you’re familiar with, really help make sense of what the Clique is battling. And that brings us to another unique quality of Geraghty’s series – his incorporation of supernatural elements. What was merely hinted at in the earlier books is now out in the open: there is a tangible evil force opposing the Clique, and it seems to have roots in some sort of pagan religion.
This force, when it manifests itself, takes the form of a giant humanoid/insectoid – a cockroach, centipede, termite, etc. – and it desires nothing except human pain, suffering, and chaos. Early on in Dueling Six Demons, the Clique begin to see parallels between all of the terrorists they have fought, primarily references to “The Voices”. Suffice it to say, things are getting very creepy in the world of antiterrorism!
The threat in Dueling Six Demons is the sudden hacking and leaking of every superpower’s most sensitive information. It turns out, a quantum computer has been successfully built, and it can overcome any cybersecurity measures with ease. The entire economy of the West, not to mention all utilities, GPS, etc. is on the line. Banking will collapse if transactions aren’t secure. The Clique’s efforts to stop the further development of quantum computing takes them to Ukraine, the Maldives, Libya, Argentina, and Taiwan. There is lots of fun action, and the bad guys definitely get stomped.
I only have one quibble – in my Kindle edition, Geraghty writes, “…most Westerners knew the ‘Malvinas Argentinas’ by another name, the Falkland Islands, the contested territory that was the focus of a ten-week undeclared war between the United Kingdom and Great Britain in 1982.” (p. 143-144). I don’t think there was a civil war in the British Isles in the early 80s!
Finally, a long-running thread concerning a possible CIA mole is exposed, but not resolved. That’s a good thing, since it means we’re guaranteed at least one more book in the series! Kudos to Mr. Geraghty for creating such a likable group of protagonists, and I can’t wait to read the next installment.
FracTad's Bookshelf 