Author Lawrence Ricketts paints a familiar spy thriller landscape while adding his own unique touches in THE DARKEST OF GAMES. A secret branch of the United Nations called ISO (International Special Operations Unit) is under attack. There’s a mole in the upper levels of the organization and agents are getting picked off all over the globe. It’s up to secret agent couple Alec and Millie to solve the mystery and save ISO’s future. It’s not easy loving a secret agent and Alec and Millie worry about each other constantly. They should. Alec’s partner, Pit, has been captured, so story opens with a daring rescue mission. Bodies pile up as the plot thickens. Power unchecked is scary, and the heroes have plenty of it. In fact, the “good guys” have a far higher kill count than the bad guys (an unoriginal, unholy triad of Middle Eastern terrorists, Russian mobsters, and a corrupt US Senator). They also don’t seem to have any budgetary limitations. Private jets, country estate safe houses, weapons, vehicles…whatever toys the ISO members need, they get at a moment’s notice. Hard to believe this group remains a secret with all of the high-end equipment requests they put in.

One of the more interesting aspects of THE DARKEST OF GAMES is its use of family dynamics. When loved ones are in danger, reasonable planning goes out the window and things get messy. Alec and Millie, Pit and Angie, as well as the plot-driving relationship of Tony and Nora, offer an emotional counterbalance to all of the counter intelligence and espionage. Family pitches in to help; even ex-wives and former boyfriends are summoned to assist in the investigation, which only puts more loved ones in jeopardy. Spying/killing is in the blood for the book’s cast. Millie’s Uncle Jamie is the head of the UK’s secret security agency, MI6, and all generations are capable marksmen…even Grandma Victoria is a crack shot. Ricketts’s blend of family ties and national allegiance elevates THE DARKEST OF GAMES above standard genre thrillers.

Lawrence Ricketts’s THE DARKEST OF GAMES is a breezy page-turning international thriller with a fast-flowing narrative and a story that flies by even when the action lulls.

~Rob Errera for IndieReader