Brad Trasker, who some say resembles Kevin Costner, retired after three decades in the counterintelligence game for the U.S. Along the way, he became sour with his duties and has had a tough time getting over a tragedy while on the job. He now works independently and was contacted by aerospace CEO Kylie Connor to do some security and background work for her company. This all changes when she is nearly killed in the explosion of her latest project during the start of launch on the tarmac.

Thus begins NIGHT OWL, the first entry in Andrew Mayne’s explosive new series. Trasker is a great character who can get into motion quickly to deal with any tense situation as if it was second nature. The sudden explosion of the prototype airplane is horrifying and nearly takes Kylie’s life in the process. Thankfully, she escapes pretty much unscathed, and only one member of her crew is hospitalized with minor burns.

"Andrew Mayne knows how to write intelligent, well-researched thrillers, and NIGHT OWL is no exception."

Now, Trasker will need to earn his keep as he not only must begin an investigation into potential sabotage from inside Kylie’s organization, but also has to consider the possibility of corporate espionage and any revenge motivation from her competition. The aerospace industry is fairly close-knit, and everyone knows each other. This can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it.

The situation becomes complicated before it gets easy, and Trasker realizes that he cannot trust anyone, including Kylie. When one of her key engineers suddenly goes missing, it adds even more urgency to the matter. This is followed by further events that indicate something significant is at hand here. One of Kylie’s major investors, who might have had some answers, is killed in an apparently unrelated car accident, but Trasker knows better.

Trasker is forced to call on the skills of his former colleague, Sophia, and assign her the task of going through the employees at Kylie’s company to look for anything that might appear to be sketchy. Meanwhile, he takes his part of the investigation on the road, initially meeting with executives from rival companies and later following up on more complex lines of inquiry.

Everything begins to point to possible infiltration by the Russians. The plane that was destroyed bore a close resemblance to a failed Soviet aircraft called Night Owl. Trasker returns to join Sophia in digging deeper into Kylie’s organization to see if there might be a Soviet spy or someone selling secrets to the Soviets that could be behind the destruction of the plane and the bodies of individuals connected to this case that continue to pile up.

Andrew Mayne knows how to write intelligent, well-researched thrillers, and NIGHT OWL is no exception. The fact that he is a professional magician means that readers can never completely trust what is happening in any of his books as he might just pull some literary sleight of hand to keep you on your toes.