FICTION

Skinner

by Charlie Huston
Mulholland: Little, Brown. Jul. 2013. 400p. ISBN 9780316133722. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9780316202411. F
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Huston's (Sleepless; The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death) new stand-alone thriller is scary in its timeliness. Skinner is a hired gun whose sole job is to protect his "asset." His maxim is "the only true way to secure an asset is to ensure that the cost of acquiring it is greater than its value," and he is willing to die for it. His current assignment is Jae, a young robotocist who can see the patterns in anything and everything. She once worked for Kestrel, a private contracting firm, but left when she was betrayed. Now she's been asked by her former handler, Terrence, to take on a new assignment from Kestrel. Along with the assignment comes Skinner. A man who will do anything—and already has—to get the job done.
VERDICT To say much more about the plot would ruin it for readers. In order to enjoy the suspense, Huston's careful layering of the story should be read without much foreknowledge. Suffice it to say, the recent revelations about data mining are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is going on in the world of spying. Add in missing nukes, hacking, drones, terrorists, and a host of other threats, and readers may come away from this novel a bit more paranoid: it's all just too plausible. This is a must for fans of John le Carré and Olen Steinhauer.
Reviewed by Jane Jorgenson, Madison P.L., WI , Jul 05, 2013
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