The Final Reckoning
Sam Bourne

HarperCollins
September 2011/ ISBN 978-0061875748
Suspense
Amazon

Reviewed by Linda Morelli

Tom Byrne is an international big shot lawyer with several years behind him of working at the United Nations. He currently represents somewhat shady characters in their desire to purchase land, but when his ex-boss at the UN, Henning Munchau, calls him about a highly secretive matter, Tom is intrigued. When they meet, Henning explains that the guards, given positive ID of the arrival of a suicide bomber, shot and killed the man. The dead man turned out to be an old man, Gerald Merton, and Henning needs Tom to handle damage control. In other words, prevent the old man’s daughter from making an international incident out of the shooting.

Tom agrees to help and meets Gerald Merton’s daughter, Dr. Rebecca Merton. In lieu of the monetary pay-off the UN offers, Rebecca wants an apology from the UN Secretary-General as well as Tom’s help in discovering why her father was killed. Then Rebecca’s house is ransacked, and Tom agrees, as he has the UN behind him and methods that will help find the answers. But as Tom and Rebecca work together, they uncover past plots and deep secrets that ultimately threaten both their lives.

The Final Reckoning is one of the best books I have read this year. The novel grabs you from the very first page, reveals horrors from the past, and speeds along in the present with an investigation that flows at lightning speed. Sam Bourne is a magnificent writer who provides edge-of-your-seat suspense based upon true events regarding Jewish persecution and retribution. This fictionalized novel combines well-developed, believable characters and a fast-moving plot, resulting in a first class thriller that remained with me long after I finished the last page. Though fictionalized, this is a topical subject in today’s world, and the book is a highly recommended read.