Jeff Abbott's high-adrenaline thrillers include both series titles and stand-alone novels. His latest release, JANUARY AND JULY, falls into the latter category --- and I'm happy to announce that it's another winner.

Two months prior to the present day, January Holte is in Paris, France, where her team is tracking Pierre Joubert, who works with a syndicate known for turning goods and narcotics into weapons --- from South America to Europe to Asia. The mission ends in failure as her group, the Annex, is left without their marked man, who evades their clutches in a way that makes them look foolish, especially January.

"Will [January and July's] combined efforts end with a massive victory by finding Bill and preventing top-secret information from getting into the wrong hands? It is this question that makes JANUARY AND JULY so much fun to read."

July Whitlock is a former college football player who turned a job as a bouncer into a new career as a bodyguard for hire. His first client is Bill Connors, who supposedly is getting together with some people in Houston who he claims are business associates. He insists that he can attend the meeting without July there. July eventually loses track of Bill, who is not seen again.

January is looking for redemption to put her failure in Paris behind her. She is determined to identify the traitor to the US who has been selling her agency’s secrets to our enemies. The search takes her to the small town of Lethey, Texas, on the trail of a man named Bill Connors, who may be the only connection to the truth behind this mission. When she gets there, not only does she find that he seemingly has disappeared, she is being tracked by an enemy agent who goes by the code name Shade and is far more skilled than she is. January just has to secure a win in order to salvage her career and protect her agency and country.

Meanwhile, July has taken it upon himself to find his missing client. The search takes him back to the place where the case began, Lethey, Texas. He begins by visiting Bill's home to look for clues. All it really does is raise more questions, as well as the suspicions of one of his neighbors. The most alarming thing that July finds is a file with his own last name attached to it, making him wonder why Bill was scoping him out. His suspicions lead him to a number of individuals, many of whom belong to a local church. They indicate that Bill has been involved in something highly secretive and suspicious.

January finds herself hot on the trail of some of the same people whom July has identified, making the inevitable meet-up between the two strangers a moment that readers will anticipate. Once they connect and join forces, the novel really zings, and Jeff Abbott is well equipped to keep the action churning at a high level.

Will their combined efforts end with a massive victory by finding Bill and preventing top-secret information from getting into the wrong hands? It is this question that makes JANUARY AND JULY so much fun to read. Here’s hoping that Abbott revisits these characters in another adventure.