Swallow has gathered some stock thriller ingredients into a hot pot and stirred, cooking up a fat actioner that will taste just right for readers who like to stick with what works. MI6 agent Marc Dane is going rogue after a betrayal. He's assisted by a female sniper working for a billionaire vigilante. The villains are terrorists with scary weapons of destruction involving the bodies of children. Swallow is a fine writer, and he educates as he goes, telling us how to create a mini-bomb with lithium batteries, water, and an aerosol can. But the novel suffers from action scenes that repeat themselves until they become unbelievable, and readers will find themselves agreeing with the thug who snaps that Dane ""is too good to be true."" Still, none of this matters all that much; fans will put the book down only long enough to run out for lithium batteries and aerosol.--Don Copyright 2018 Booklist