Aha! I have uncovered the identity of Q, the mysterious head of the QAnon conspiracy. He is not a government insider—at least not in his official bio. No, he is the author of this book. The Elimination Threat reads just like the QAnon conspiracies. A massive hidden cabal running the world? Check. Secret weapons that can unleash fire? Check. So far there are no blood facials or pedophiles, but it’s early yet in the series.
The plot of this book, and the two earlier books in the series, are attempts by the FBI to stop the Thirteen. The Thirteen are thirteen uber-rich families that have been controlling the world for centuries. In this book, one of the Thirteen, the Dragon, is using a directed energy weapon to burn his enemies from the inside out. This weapon is ripped directly from current headlines about US diplomats being shot with microwave weapons by Russia or China. It scrambles their brains but doesn’t kill them. But there are many kinds of directed energy weapons so the one in the book is perfectly plausible.
While I loved the convoluted conspiracy plot, other aspects of the book failed for me. There is a near constant referencing of the two previous books in the series. I’ve read the first but not the second. Neither are needed to understand the plot of this book. I believe it may be a misguided marketing idea. But it was just annoying and inflated the book unnecessarily. Also, there are a massive number of characters in this book. I really don’t need the names and histories of every minor character.
The best parts of The Elimination Threat are when Agent Mason figures out what happened at crime scenes. Or when his team is investigating documents about the victims. In my review of the first book in the series, I stated this series is a mashup of a conspiracy thriller and a police procedural. In this book, the procedural parts worked the best for me. 3 stars.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.