Sheila and Recluse Paperback - 2024

For much of his career, Adam North was a hunted man. He carefully moved around the old USSR for years, spying on the Soviet oil industry from deep within the Soviets' vast empire. He was never caught, but his social skills languished.

Once his code name, Recluse, was a joke among coworkers. Now Recluse describes him well. At age fifty-six, with too few good friends and too many bad memories, North finally turned to Christianity. He desperately wanted inner peace.

Weeks later, he's again immersed in deadly conflict. He must catch a terrorist trained to evade police exactly as North did long ago. North might be able to do that.

His immediate problem, though, is the woman who will travel with him. He doesn't understand her at all well.

This story takes place a few years after the fall of the Soviet Union. A terrorist group called The Movement emerges from a remote corner of Iran. It's founder is one of the world's wealthiest men and he's spared no expense. He's also been patient, taking over a decade to quietly build his evil organization. It's now formidable.

It's also about to unleash trained assassins, who will roam America, killing Christians at random. The assassins' trainers include a retired KGB superstar named Yuri. He spent his KGB career hunting Adam North. Years afterward, Yuri taught the first of The Movement's assassins to evade capture in the U.S., exactly as North once did in the U.S.S.R.

The Movement starts off with a three-killer pilot program. Blue Dog, an ex-admiral who officially doesn't exist, runs America's counterespionage operations. He wants North to catch the first killers encountered, who murdered a police officer near the ranch North happens to be visiting.

That episode discloses the basic plan of The Movement. It soon becomes clear North will have to drive around vast stretches of cowboy country for weeks, with a doctor riding along beside him.

The doctor's a widowed former missionary, Sheila Wilson. She's returned to America after decades in the jungle, and needs a bank loan to set up her own medical practice in the U.S. Working a few weeks with Adam North is how she'll amass the down payment necessary.

The job pays that well because of two very rich old ladies determined to get Sheila Wilson married to Adam North. They'll spend whatever it takes to make that happen.

Of course, they dare not tell either him or her what they're up to. They also know that their matchmaking will be hugely difficult. Grumpy Adam North is not usually good company. He also has profound secrets that absolutely must be hidden from Sheila Wilson.

We think you'll like this suspense novel, and especially its ending. You might even like the high-powered sports car involved. We did. We liked the two old ladies even more. We think you could justify buying this novel just to meet them.

Mikvelk Publishing, LLC