This is Ludlum's novel only in the sense that the late best-selling author created the character in 2002's The Janson Directive. It was Garrison who wrote the follow-up, 2012's The Janson Command, turning the character from a one-shot to a series lead. Now, in the third Paul Janson novel, the former U.S. covert operative (he runs a private security firm now) is hired by an unlikable oil exec to rescue his young wife from Somali pirates. But Janson soon begins to suspect there's more to the story than he's been told. Could the oil exec know more about his wife's kidnapping than he's letting on? Garrison, who under his real name, Justin Scott, is coauthor (with Clive Cussler) of the splendid Isaac Bell thrillers, keeps the pace moving steadily, and Janson and his partner, Jessica Kincaid (a world-class sharpshooter), make a good team. Think of it as a streamlined, more polished version of a Robert Ludlum thriller without Ludlum's clunky prose and expository style.--Pitt, David Copyright 2014 Booklist

Garrison's second contribution to the Ludlum franchise (after 2012's The Janson Command) offers action aplenty, along with a surfeit of subplots. Allegra Helms, a 30-year-old Italian countess, is aboard the superyacht Tarantula in the Indian Ocean when Somali pirate Maxammed seizes the ship and takes the passengers hostage. Allegra's husband, Kingsman Helms, the president of the petroleum division of American Synergy Corp., hires Paul Janson's Catspaw Associates to rescue his wife. To Janson and his partner and girlfriend, Jessica Kincaid, it appears to be a fairly straightforward assignment, but they quickly find themselves enmeshed in a murky stew of politics and international intrigue, which they must take time to sort out before making their rescue run on the Tarantula. Readers will hope that next time Garrison keeps the focus on the enterprise's more thrilling aspects. Agent: Henry Morrison, Henry Morrison Literary Agency. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.