Bad news: Pike Logan's Taskforce has been hit by a ransomware attack that seems to have originated with the Taliban. Worse news: it's just a trial run, and the real attack is coming from a traitor who once served as a National Security Agency specialist in the U.S. government. Next in a long-running series after End of Days.

Covert operator Pike Logan returns in the seventeenth novel in the popular series. A highly placed officer in the American intelligence community has apparently turned traitor, and Logan and his Taskforce colleagues have a very small amount of time in which to identify and stop the individual. Like the earlier installments, this one has a lot of action, but the author spends enough time with the characters to ensure that the narrative doesn't feel like a series of action scenes strung together. Logan continues to be a dependable series anchor, a man with a deep history and plenty of character flaws; no matter how many stories Taylor tells about him, it feels like there will always be something more to reveal. In terms of story, readers familiar with the series might be able to predict some of its dramatic beats, but overall it's suspenseful and surprising. Fans of the series should be well pleased.

The extraction of Ahmad Khan, an Afghan government official trying to flee Kabul before the Taliban takes control in August 2021, kicks off bestseller Taylor's overbusy 17th Pike Logan novel (after 2021's End of Days). This rescue mission draws special operative Pike of Taskforce into the search for the Bactrian Treasure, a priceless trunk of valuables that Khan managed to steal before his escape. Meanwhile, a hacker dubbed Dark Star breaks into the most secret layers of U.S. government computer operations and demands a ransom. Logan's boss orders Taskforce to take down Dark Star's point man, computer genius Dylan Hobbes, a former NSA coder who appears to be operating out of Croatia. No sooner does Logan close in on Dark Star than Hobbes ups the ante by hacking into NASA's computer system and programming a space tourism rocket that just blasted off, with several influential Americans aboard, to crash into the International Space Station. Taylor's fans have become used to the series' peripatetic lines of action, but even diehards may be pressed to follow a plot that often fails to digest one story development before the next one is off and running. Taylor has done better. Agent: John Talbot, Talbot Fortune Agency. (Jan.)

Pike Logan and his extra-Constitutional Taskforce save the day in their 17th book-length outing. It's 2021, and Afghanistan is falling. The Taliban wants to capture mortal enemy Jahn Azimi before he escapes their clutches, which he does with help from Logan and his crew. Aside from having killed many Taliban, Jahn has the Bactrian Treasure (yes, this is a real thing, a pile of ancient gold coins said to be worth billions of dollars). The Taliban want both the man and the gold "really bad." Blood flows, of course. Meanwhile, bad guys test "zero-click" ransomware on a Washington, D.C., consulting company that happens to have ties to the U.S. intelligence community, but that's just a dry run for a much bigger show. A private enterprise plans to send some rich dilettantes into space to dock with the International Space Station. Criminals plan to spoil that flight in spectacular and deadly fashion unless the American government tells them where the treasure is. "This attack is going to make worldwide news," a conspirator says. "It's going to cause America to go nuts." Which is why President Hannister takes decisive action: "I want Pike Logan operational right now." Much of the action takes place in Croatia, where Logan accurately says, "I'm probably going to go kinetic here." The administration's confidence is well placed: "I know it sounds strange," an official says, "but that guy is never wrong." Logan is a fun hero to follow, given that he only slaughters bad guys and has a degree of self-awareness. Every time he kills someone, he says, "it's like a chip in the armor of your soul." Whether modestly or carelessly, Pike Logan doesn't mention his full name for well over 100 pages, never mind that he's the main character. His fans already know who he is, but it wouldn't kill the author to weave Chip's--er, Pike's--name into his first scene. Thriller fans will love the ticking-clock action. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.