A holiday gift, the fifth in the Cameron Winter Mystery series, has arrived. Read my review of the first three books in the series (https://www.margueritereads.com/home/the-cameron-winter-mystery-series-by-andrew-klavan?rq=klavan), and the fourth book (https://www.margueritereads.com/home/a-woman-underground-by-andrew-klavan?rq=klavan) to bring you up to date for this episode. You can read this as a stand-alone, but I think you’ll have a better appreciation for the protagonist and his arc if you read the entire series.

Winter begins with a session with his psychotherapist, Margaret Whitaker, relating a story of a mission from his mysterious boss at the Division, the Recruiter, to investigate a tech bro billionaire, Thaddeus Blatt, for his bribes and deals with the US government on behalf of a shady project at the startup Thaumatix. When his new love interest, Gwendolyn Lord, tells him of her friend, a forensic psychologist in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and her knowledge of a mysterious killing of a raving suspect who killed his wife and child, Winter is forced to confront Blatt and his henchman, a body guard uniquely skilled to be a challenge to Winter’s own well-developed ability at combat. Winter nicknames the guard the Tat Man, due to his sleeves of tattoos.

Winter’s past encounter with Blatt is again relevant, as Blatt, in his effort to proceed with his morally dubious project, is also seeking to terminate the Recruiter and his loyal group of soldiers, the Invisibles, men and women he selected and trained, like Winter, to eliminate foes to the US, and more broadly, evil everywhere. This story takes an interesting turn— while Blatt clearly has an immoral pursuit, he gives evidence to Winter that the Recruiter has gone off the rails, has taken his good vs. evil battle to new extremes, going rogue. Winter is given to believe that perhaps the Recruiter may be going too far, become too radical.

Of note is that Winter does not inform Margaret of his current intervention, and is becoming more independent of her. She is also sensing that their sessions may be coming to a close soon. Her task of helping him make peace with his bloody past career is resolving, as he integrates these occasional “cases” into his present career as college English professor. As his relationship with Gwendolyn deepens, Winter has resolved his past with childhood sweetheart Charlotte (in the fourth book), leaving him free to deeply commit to a love, hoping to start a committed relationship and family of his own. We’ll have to wait for book six to see if this is the one.

A good mystery series is a joy to this reader. Enjoy the entire Cameron Winter series, including this great addition to it.