Face Last Seen by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado

Description from Amazon:

When a dangerous AI weapon disappears, all hell breaks loose in a high-stakes thriller by New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Isabella Maldonado.

A high-stakes theft draws federal agent Carmen Sanchez and brilliant hacker Jake Heron into the hunt to recover the stolen Epsilon Core, a revolutionary autonomous weapon engineered to operate beyond human control.

An enemy in the shadows is assembling the final components to unleash it, causing unimaginable casualties. To stop the unthinkable, Carmen and Jake—experts in exposing intrusion and threats—must track down a mastermind who hides in plain sight behind a perfectly chilling disguise.

Racing against mercenaries, arms dealers, cult conspiracies and a nemesis from Jake’s past, the unlikely partners must navigate a complex and increasingly personal relationship—one put to the test when Jake himself falls under suspicion.

As the clock runs out, and the Epsilon Core’s devastation looms, Carmen must decide if she can trust her partner, a man she may not even recognize anymore.

 

This is book three in the series, and while some might say it can be read as a standalone, I don’t think enough of the intrusion aspect is explained in this one, so new readers might not completely understand what Heron does and how I-Squared came about.

There are two threads running through this story. One has the team chasing up on the missing Epsilon Core, and the other is the cult that Heron’s parents bought into.

The storyline around the Core and the AI behind it can become bogged down in tech speak at times, but when you start learning more about it and the ramifications of self-choice by AI, it starts looking a little scary. Heron is still only just off the naughty chair, and shouldn’t really be as involved as he is, but what with Reynolds, I-Squared’s overseer, seeming to be more interested in positive publicity and putting himself front and centre, it’s up to the team to sort out the real issue. This is one of those books where you can’t trust what you see, and the consequences for real life are frightening.

The cult section, with the reader learning more about the behind-the-scenes punishments for not toeing the line, is horrific, and the meaning behind the jewellery welded onto them and the brainwashing behind it brings home how different life is out there for others.

But as with good thrillers, things don’t always go to plan, and here we find villains behind villains, which made the threads move in some interesting misdirections. The writing is slow in places and speeds up elsewhere so there is a good mix of both. But I’m not sure it’s a standout for me.

As always, just when you think Heron and Sanchez have their issues sorted and things have worked out the best way possible, there is a curveball thrown in that sets a thread up well for the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of the book.