Novel Threat

Abramson (the Saint Squad series) smoothly blends espionage and romance tropes in this breezy thriller centered on two CIA agents who infiltrate a mysterious publishing house. Field agent Brandon Hale is in Europe gathering evidence about a terrorist organization known as the Labyrinth when his asset is killed by a Labyrinth assassin. After the man’s death, Brandon finds a business card in his pocket from New York City–based Monroe Publishing. Brandon’s boss, Grayson Yarrow, sends him undercover at Monroe, where he takes a job as assistant to managing editor Amelia Franklin. Yarrow also assigns agent and aspiring author Kimber Seidel to the publisher, where he has rigged a lucrative deal for one of her novels. Neither Brandon nor Kimber know of the other’s involvement, and when they meet by chance on a flight to New York and sparks fly, the gears for a madcap romantic adventure start turning. The story’s stakes lie in Labyrinth leader Asadi Mir’s plan to kill hundreds of American citizens, but it’s the publishing angle and the on-again, off-again romance between Brandon and Kimber that most readers will grab onto. This is pure popcorn. (Apr.)