Stuart Woods' golden hour

A long-forgotten CIA mission comes back to sting former agent Teddy Fay, now disguised as a Hollywood star, in Battles's disappointing latest entry in Woods's series (after Obsession). While on a European tour to promote his latest film, Fay receives word that CIA agents, both current and retired, are being killed. All of the victims are connected to Operation Golden Hour, a decade-old mission focused on taking down the shadowy Trust organization, which funded terrorism worldwide. Current CIA director Lance Cabot warns Fay that he could be next, but Fay believes his mastery of disguise will keep him safe as he figures out who's behind the killings. The narrative flits across Europe, from Venice to Budapest to Berlin, with Fay and his entourage repeatedly charming movie crowds, then dodging trouble. Along the way, readers learn little about Golden Hour or the Trust, and are subjected instead to stale showbiz satire and anemic action. The finale arrives suddenly and makes little impact. Series readers may appreciate the brief appearance of fan favorite Stone Barrington, but it's not enough to save the day. This misses the mark. Agent: Anne Sibald, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Dec.)

Battles continues his authorized takeover of Woods' expansive turf with a tale that puts ex--CIA agent Teddy Fay in both the driver's seat and the hot seat. Long before Teddy ended his career as a rogue intelligence agent by faking his death in a plane crash, he masterminded Operation Golden Hour, a task force devoted to taking down the Trust, in whose name Tovar Lintz funded terrorist operations around the globe. Now Tovar's son, Felix Braun, chief executive of Braun Logistics and Security, has decided that it's payback time against the agents behind Golden Hour, killing three of them and targeting the rest. Current CIA director Lance Cabot, one of the few people who know that Teddy's still alive and flourishing under the guise of both Centurion Pictures producer Billy Barnett and Mark Weldon, star of Centurion's new filmStorm's Eye, persuades him to go on the offense against whoever's executing his agents and leaving a Trust signature behind. The publicity tour Mark Weldon is about to join in Italy for the screening ofStorm's Eye at the World Thriller Film Festival will provide the perfect cover, argues Lance. And he's exactly right, for movie melodrama and offscreen maneuvering merge seamlessly with Teddy's mission against Felix Braun, who's very interested indeed to learn that the prime mover behind Golden Hour is still alive. Though there's never any serious doubt about how all this will end, Battles plots much more tightly than Woods did--though that's a low bar to clear--and fans of the series, first developed as a counterpoint to the ancient Stone Barrington franchise, won't be disappointed. Proof that the "golden hour" extends far beyond the ideal time to shoot movie exteriors. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.