In bestseller Parnell's explosive fourth Eric Steele novel (after 2020's One True Patriot), Ai Liang, the director of a secret Chinese biological warfare laboratory, has developed a coronavirus variant, Gantu-62, that can kill a person within minutes. Stricken by conscience, Liang plans to destroy the Gantu-62 stock, but before she can do so, the Swords of Qing, a dissident paramilitary group aiming to overthrow the Chinese government, attack the facility. Liang barely escapes with her life, and the deadly viral weapon falls into the hands of the group's mad leader, who considers himself the hereditary rightful emperor of China. Meanwhile, special operative Eric Steele, who has returned from an unapproved mission in Russia to avenge a comrade's death, is surprised to find himself not clapped in irons but tasked with reviving the Program, a disbanded special operations unit, to counter a Chinese government plot to attack the U.S. The mission winds up with his confronting the Swords of Qing. Combat veteran Parnell expertly balances tense, believable action with poignant quiet moments. This superior entry will gratify series fans and ensnare new readers. Agent: Dan Conaway, Writers House. (Sept.)

Eric Steele is a top-flight operative for a top-secret U.S. government intelligence agency. In the fourth book in the series (following One True Patriot, 2020), Steele is called back into action to investigate reports of an impending Chinese attack on the United States. Soon he discovers that this is no ordinary terrorist plot: at the center is a new, man-made coronavirus, code-named C-62, a bioweapon so powerful that it can kill a person in only minutes. Can Steele and his team find the fanatics behind the threat and neutralize them before they unleash a global pandemic? Written in Parnell's effective muscular prose, with loving attention given to the names and attributes of the various pieces of weaponry and technology in the story, the book sets a swift pace from the get-go, and the pace doesn't let up until the rousing finale. Parnell creates real, compassionate characters and puts them into a well-developed story, and the Eric Steele series deserves all the recognition it has received. Readers of military thrillers should be encouraged to check it out.