Redvale's polished debut thriller offers high stakes, desperate action, and memorable twists as a former Navy SEAL teams up with a most-wanted criminal for an unsanctioned mission that’s both globe-shaking and intimately personal. As a former Navy Seal, Captain John Mitcham has survived death and loss, in both his professional and in his personal life. While on the outs with his wife, Claire, due to the strain and grief after their daughter’s death by suicide, John yearns to mend his marriage. When Claire is kidnapped, John launches into action to discover what happened and bring her home alive. He learns that the CIA has involved Claire in a life-threatening conspiracy involving a bleeding edge computer project called the Quantum Grail that, in the hands of the Russian FSB, could mean world dominance. Enlisting the help of notorious super hacker Nia Banks, John must navigate the minefields of government secrets and high-profile Russian criminals, pushing himself to the limits in a race involving every intelligence agency and his own past. Powered by a hard-edged, highly trained, but engagingly human protagonist facing a host of competing military and government agendas, The Quantum Grail moves fast, with tense scenarios, crisp chases and confrontations, and surges of page-turning adrenaline. Both banter and violence hit hard, but the uneasy alliance between John and Nia—blasting AC/DC and TLC—gives the material heart, especially as John uncovers dark, intimate secrets about his own marriage. The plotting is somewhat convoluted, revealed through flashbacks and character relationships, but Redvale makes the puzzle pieces clear, matching the intensity of the threat to John’s intensity of feeling.
Fans of conspiracy-inspired thrillers and no-nonsense heroes will be captivated by this involved mystery and its leading man. Redvale knows his genre and what readers want. Technical detail is convincing but not belabored, smartly blending thriller elements—government agencies, covert ops, terrifying tech, the rigors of SEAL training—into a strong debut.
Takeaway: Riveting thriller debut of a SEAL, conspiracies, and deadly new tech.
Comparable Titles: David Baldacci's Absolute Power, John Connolly's The Dirty South.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
