The Palace

May 4, 2020
Thriller Award winner Reich’s entertaining third Simon Riske novel (after 2019’s Crown Jewel) finds professional problem solver Riske’s old friend Rafael “Rafa” de Bourbon, a Spanish entrepreneur who’s about to open a luxury hotel on the coast of Thailand, worried about illegal activities he’s witnessed while working with a company called PetroSaud. As Rafa is considering exposing PetroSaud’s crimes, the Thai police arrive at the hotel and arrest him for bribery and extortion. Rafa asks Simon for help. Simon, who has just completed a mission in Amsterdam to recover a stolen painting, comes to Rafa’s rescue because he owes his friend a big favor—and because Rafa has recently married an ex-lover he’s fond of. Simon has less success with this operation than with the one in Amsterdam, and he’s soon on the run. Appealing supporting characters ex-Mossad agent Danni Pine and top-notch financial reporter London Li come to his aid. An unexpected closing twist promises exciting developments to come. Clever, sophisticated Riske stands out in the crowded action hero field. Agent: Richard Pine, Inkwell Management.

June 15, 2020
Simon Riske returns for another high-octane ride. Something of a modern Renaissance man, reformed thief and Marseilles gangster Riske blends a criminal youth with more socially acceptable adult activities and, in addition to his day job as a restorer of world-class sports cars, markets himself as a high-end fixer. When the novel opens, he is engaged in stealing back a Monet first stolen from the Rijksmuseum. Predictable complications arise, allowing Riske to show off his admirable driving skills, and the stage is set. In this somewhat murky installment, Riske is asked to mediate the release of Rafael de Bourbon, an old friend who is being held by Thai officials on questionable charges, but before he can secure the man's freedom, de Bourbon and several others are killed in a shootout. It turns out Rafa was privy to a large-scale swindle involving the sovereign wealth funds of several nations, and he was killed to preserve the secrets of the swindle. Riske naturally decides to pursue justice for Rafa and to uncover the swindle, partly to benefit Rafa's wife, who once had a thing with Riske. If all this seems a little contrived, fear not, there's more. Part of the loot amassed in the swindle has gone to a secret account, and in a parallel subplot it's revealed that this money is being used to subvert European efforts to accommodate and resettle refugees: Rich nationalistic racists are bankrolling a suicide-bomb mission that will once and for all destroy any humanitarian impulses European governments might have. As Riske uncovers the details of the wealth-fund thefts he also begins to unravel the connections to the rich nationalists, and eventually the two investigations become one. Riske is a likable character, a nice blending of quick wit, a misspent youth, and better impulses; he's not above picking a pocket or stealing a Ferrari, but he's on the side of the angels. In this adventure, however, he seems inappropriately pitted against social and economic forces of grave and genuine magnitude. Fascist forces are loose in the world, refugees perish horribly trying to secure a future, and there's Riske, tootling along in a borrowed (legitimately, this time) Ferrari, headed to Cannes to make it right. Riske can steal your Monet back, Riske can save your boy and secure your inheritance, but save the world? Simon Riske? Some thrills, but in the end this asks too much of the hero, and of the reader.

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June 1, 2020
Retrieving a stolen Monet from a billionaire's yacht near Cannes is relative child's play for Simon Riske, despite snags that leave his young assistant badly injured. But when old friend Rafael (Rafa) de Bourbon asks for help, Riske?a problem-solver who restores high-end sports cars in his London shop?is thrust into a dangerous international conspiracy involving terrorism and fraud on a massive scale. Unable to get a promised bonus from former employer PetroSaud, Rafa threatens to expose the company's illegal financial dealings, and he's arrested in Bangkok for blackmail and extortion and thrown into a rathole of a jail. On a mission to free his friend, Riske winds up in a cat-and-mouse chase with a skilled assassin. Simon Riske novels feature nonstop action in vividly rendered international locales, and this third in the series (following Crown Jewel, 2019) delivers on both counts. Stylish escapism.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)