Risk Agent

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ridley Pearson begins an electrifying new thriller series. After a Chinese national working for an American-owned construction company is kidnapped in Shanghai, Rutherford Risk-a hostage rescue firm-is called in. But in China, private investigation is illegal, and operating within its borders will be difficult. For the job, the company recruits two outsiders: Grace Chu, a refined forensic expert, to follow the money-and John Knox, a hard charger who is experienced in both combat and the street culture of Shanghai. But following the money leads to more complex and hazardous consequences than either anticipated. Who is behind the kidnapping? What are their true motives? And more important, can Knox and Grace save the hostages before the deadline?

John Knox and Grace Chu, the incomparable duo of the Risk Agent novels, team up again in the latest international thrill ride from New York Times–bestselling author Ridley Pearson. When ex–military contractor John Knox receives a text from partner Grace Chu warning that she fears her cover may have been blown while on assignment, he jumps into action. Knox must locate her overseas handlers, convince them of the threat, and then attempt to retrace the well-hidden steps of a woman who had been attempting to determine how one million euros' worth of AIDS vaccine disappeared, all while eluding angry poachers on a parallel trail. Corruption isn't a "problem" in Kenya, it's the way of doing business. The poaching of ivory from African elephants, driven by insatiable demand from mainland China, fuels constant blood and slaughter. Knox faces police, national rangers, journalists, and safari companies who are each in their own symbiotic relationship with elephants, both good and bad. As the threat from Al-Shaabab militants interferes with his pursuit of Grace, Knox finds himself pitted against the most savage and suicidal fighters in the world. And there's this woman, Grace, always in his head. His gut. As Grace watches as her civilized self slips away while abandoned in the bush, Knox races against the clock to find her.

The new Risk Agent novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Private security firm Rutherford Risk's new client is a philanthropist with a headline-making cause: to locate and shut down an Amsterdam-based sweatshop that uses enslaved girls as forced labor. Enter import/export entrepreneur John Knox, with his former combat experience-and forensic accountant Grace Chu, who can trap and trace even the most sensitive financial information. Working through the picturesque streets and canals of Amsterdam, Knox and Grace face Middle Eastern mobsters, the owner of a local brothel and police officers they don't trust. Pursuing one young girl who holds the key to their investigation, but is either too afraid or in too deep to help them, they encounter the dark side of a secret world where would-be allies are enemies, and the victims themselves don't want to be saved.

In the newest international thrill ride from New York Times-bestselling author Ridley Pearson, John Knox and Grace Chu, the incomparable and often incompatible duo, team up again, this time in the exotic "city between two worlds," Istanbul. What's it like to see yourself in a picture you never knew was taken? John Knox is an expert at surveillance and delicate, international dealings. So he is understandably thrown when David "Sarge" Dulwich, his contact at Rutherford Risk, hands him a photo of a transaction he recently facilitated in the Middle East. More curious to him, he's shown that photo while in the Red Room, the private security company's highly secure underground bunker, where eavesdropping is impossible and privacy ensured. Why all the cloak-and-dagger? Knox is pressured into accepting a job as an art broker in the mysterious Istanbul, a city situated on two continents where East meets West and Islam meets Christianity. It is a melting pot of spies, terrorists, and conflicting interests. Teamed with smart, quick, and fearless Grace Chu, Knox must navigate a murky operation, the only goal of which is to spend five minutes in the proximity of a man they've never met. Why? What can it possibly matter? And why are so many others bound and determined to see it never happens-at any cost?