Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother --- a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang --- and an influential father who runs a work camp for orphans. Superiors in the North Korean state soon recognize the boy’s loyalty and keen instincts. Considering himself “a humble citizen of the greatest nation in the world,” Jun Do rises in the ranks. He becomes a professional kidnapper who must navigate the shifting rules, arbitrary violence and baffling demands of his overlords in order to stay alive. Driven to the absolute limit of what any human being could endure, he boldly takes on the treacherous role of rival to Kim Jong Il in an attempt to save the woman he loves, Sun Moon, a legendary actress “so pure, she didn’t know what starving people looked like.”

Sifting through the evidence, authorities determine that in 10 days, a major American city will be vaporized by a terrorist attack. And Gideon Crew, tracking the mysterious terrorist cell, learns the end may be something far worse than mere Armageddon. 

Nobody knows Bangkok like Royal Thai Police Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep. But for his newest assignment, everything he knows will be a mere starting point. He’s put in charge of the highest-profile case in Thailand --- an attempt to bring an end to trafficking in human organs. 

Peter Decker of the LAPD and his wife, Rina Lazarus, confront the case of a rash of shocking adolescent suicides at an elite Los Angeles private school. They also struggle with Gabriel Whitman, the enigmatic son of a troubled former friend, whom they have brought into their home. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.