Artifact

YA author Pack (the Chronicles of Illumination series) pivots to adult fiction with this propulsive conspiracy thriller. Tray Lennox, an FBI agent investigating art crimes, gets a frantic call from his identical twin brother, nuclear inspector Carey, who swears he’s being followed. Before Tray can act, Carey is shot and killed by the unidentified pursuer. Tray suspects the bullet was meant for him, because he’s been searching for the Hero’s Knot—an ancient artifact comprising “space debris made up of nanoparticles of extraterrestrial biological origin”—for the Bureau, and he knows he’s not the only one after it. Hoping to deceive Carey’s killer into thinking they shot the right brother, Tray switches his wallet with Carey’s at the scene. He then sets out to avenge his brother’s death on top of his original mission, the stakes of which are raised when Tray learns that the Hero’s Knot can be modified to detonate nuclear weapons—and that Carey was tracking down people who’d sabotaged some of the nuclear reactors he’d inspected. Pack hits the ground running, grabbing readers from the opening pages and refusing to let go until the satisfying denouement. Dan Brown fans will be pleased. (Self-published)