A searing, cerebral, high-stakes knockout.
Mills’s latest is a taut, cerebral thriller steeped in espionage and existential threat. A bullet to the chest should’ve ended ex–Navy SEAL Salam “Fade” al-Fayed. Instead, he wakes up paralyzed, forgotten, and offered a second life by a shadow group with world-shaking plans. As a deadly virus spreads and governments collapse, Fade becomes a weapon in a billionaire-backed crusade to seize control.
Mills spins a tale soaked in paranoia and philosophical rot. His prose is taut and the action lean. But what makes the novel sing is the emotional shading Mills gives to Fade. Behind the blood and bullets is a man wrestling with existential despair. His memories are fragmented. His conscience is frayed. He doesn’t want redemption; he just wants to feel something again. Lowe isn’t a madman. He’s something colder: the kind of villain who doesn’t need to raise his voice to make your skin crawl. Opposite him, Fade, broken, bitter, and aching for something to believe in, becomes the reader’s uneasy guide through a world where ethics are optional and power is privatized.
Mills also manages to elevate the story with sharp reflections on surveillance, technocracy, and the fragility of democratic systems. One could argue that the plot’s techno-conspiracy edges into the unbelievable, but the unsettling part is how disturbingly real it feels. Fans of Bourne and Rapp will find the action they crave, but Mills digs deeper. He gives us a hero who doesn’t just break bones; he questions the broken world he’s meant to protect.
A tense, high-impact thriller with depth and bite.
Pub date July 29, 2025
Authors Equity
ISBN 979-8893310399
Print length 336 pages
Price $29.99 (USD) 29.99 Hardcover, $14.99 Kindle edition, $16.41 Audiobook