Sleeper Book

"A crackerjack opening ...Sleeper doesn't lack for action."—Orlando Sentinel

THE BEST MAN.

When a da Vinci masterwork is stolen from a private collector, Puller Monk is assigned to the case. Monk's private demons have worked for him before. No ordinary agent, he plays by his own rules. He's just what the FBI needs. Because what they're looking for is no ordinary thief…

THE DEADLIEST FEMALE.

A young chameleon assassin, she was bred to kill. An American sleeper spy, she answers to many names, adapts to each identity, and is trained in every deadly art. Only a select few know who she really is. Only they know her ultimate objective: take out Puller Monk.

THE FINAL KILL.

A killing game begins between the agent and the sleeper. Both are the hunted. Both are the hunter. But when Monk finds himself seduced by his own past he also finds himself doomed by the dark side that was once his only salvation.

"Intricate and ingenious."

—San Diego Union-Tribune

"A terrific surprise twist." —Publisher's Weekly

Publishers Weekly

The risks in Riehl's follow-up to the successful espionage thriller Quantico Rules are literary as well as cloak-and-dagger. There's a sexy, dangerous villainess, a blonde assassin born Samantha Williamson but now named Sung Kim; the sleeper of the title, she was stolen from America as a child and trained in North Korea in various martial and felonious arts. Series hero FBI agent Puller Monk matches wits with her in an extended game of cat-and-mouse. But Monk's also besieged by serious personal problems, and Riehl devotes equal space to these in the novel. Monk's father finally dies after a long battle with Alzheimer's, and Monk wonders if he's losing his own mind to the same disease. Nevertheless, he accepts a secret assignment to find a priceless stolen painting. The reader knows from the beginning that the heist is the work of Sung Kim, now a killer agent of the dangerous North Korean regime. Indeed, some of the best chapters involve Washington insiders riffing on the current political situation here and abroad. Even Monk's involvement in the top-secret investigation has a stressful personal twist: William, the NSA operative who recruits Monk for the mission, catches him in a delicate moment with lady love Bethany. Could this possibly affect their working relationship? Riehl's second effort has a terrific surprise twist, but it lacks the substance to support the story's more serious concerns. Agent, Jean Naggar. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.