Steve Urszenyi jump-starts Perfect Shot, his exciting, action-packed debut novel, by plunging into the high-stakes world of FBI special agent Alexandra "Alex" Martel.
Alex has cultivated her skills to become the ultimate intelligence agent: she is well-versed in fighting while perceptive to her surroundings, attuned to the most seemingly minor of movements. Alex began her career as a combat medic before becoming a sniper--colleagues call her "Shooter"--and then joining the FBI, which has classified her as a weapon of mass destruction. Alex, who is being recruited by the CIA, often works with Interpol. She and her team seek stolen nuclear material that she believes may be headed for Paris, where world leaders plan to attend the yearly Peace Summit. Alex discovered the plot from a message left in the purse of a murdered British intelligence officer, who also was a close friend. Despite Alex's skills, her theory is belittled by her male colleagues--until Russian agents take a nuclear bomb from a U.S. Air Force base in Turkey. The investigation takes Alex and a CIA agent through London, Turkey, and Paris, including a tensely claustrophobic chase in the catacombs.
Urszenyi pulls on familiar tropes--a loner lead character with a tragic past, laser-focused on work--and melds them into a highly entertaining plot in this series launch. Readers will gravitate toward Alex, who quickly emerges as a sturdy character who thrives on taking control of the "chaos around her." --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer