Three-Edged Sword

If you enjoy crime thrillers with humor, a twisty plot, and a protagonist who is a thief and a master of disguise, then look no further than Three-Edged Sword by Jeff Lindsay. This is the third book in the Riley Wolfe series. Riley uses his abilities to rob the richest. However, this time a rogue government agent has abducted the only two people Riley loves. If he doesn’t do what is requested, then there will be severe consequences. He must infiltrate a missile silo, enter a vault, and steal a flash drive within a limited amount of time.

The characterization is excellent. Riley lacks the qualities of many conventional heroes and is flawed. While his morals aren’t the typical ones we would associate with a protagonist, he is courageous, adept at disguise, and truly cares for the two people being held hostage. He doesn’t trust others easily, typically works alone, and needs risk in his life. But is this task the one that breaks him? Several of the secondary characters gained depth in this book as secrets are revealed and events occur. Readers of the series will have met some of the secondary characters, but there’s also a few new ones to keep the story fresh and interesting.

An exciting plot, some over-the-top action scenes, excellent character development, and descriptive settings made this an enjoyable read. The settings ranged from Botswana to South Africa to Lithuania to Germany to various locations in the United States with the majority set on an island in Lithuania. The world-building was excellent making it easy to visualize everywhere Riley went. While most of the story is from Riley’s point of view, there are chapters from the points of view of other characters. This did slow the pacing at times, but kept readers up-to-date on what was happening to other characters.

The author’s writing style hooked me quickly and drew me into this exciting and suspenseful tale. The conflict and unexpected twists kept me turning the pages. There is an unsettling and disturbing scene near the end. Several themes run through the story including theft, patriotism, love, friendship, death, threats, and how people are treated and how that can affect their actions.

Overall, this is a fast-paced and entertaining thriller with some humor to break the suspense occasionally. This series is best read in order as there is a small spoiler in this one for previous books in the series.

I purchased a copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. Publication date was December 06, 2022.