Who will Stone Barrington have to deal with first: the terrorists determined to assassinate his old friend, President Katherine Rule Lee, or the disgruntled ex-boyfriend of his latest conquest?While Katherine Lee is getting sworn indemoting her husband, Will, from president to first gentlemanand making the rounds of inaugural balls, Stone is anything but idle. He takes delivery of a new Citation M2 jet, seduces delivery pilot Pat Frank and accepts Sen. Everett Salton's nomination for membership in a New York club so exclusive it doesn't have a name. It seems only fair that Pat have a suspicious ex, entrepreneur Kevin Keyes, to add a hint of complication to Stone's generally effortless string of successes. And when someone kills two tenants in a building just deeded to Pat, and fellow pilot Paul Reeves, the drunken buddy Kevin hustles out of a London restaurant as Stone and Pat watch, keeps dogging the new lovers' airways, the plot seems headed for serious, if predictable, complications. Meanwhile, in the even-numbered chapters, dark clouds are forming over Washington. Stone's friend and sometime lover Holly Barker, assistant to the president for national security, gets wind of a trio of mysterious no-goodniks she dubs the Three Stooges, and the CIA and FBI, aided and abetted by Holly's new assistant, Millicent Martindale, promptly get to work identifying them and figuring out what they might be up to. Those are good decisions, because Curly, Larry and Moe are plotting high crimes under diplomatic cover, and someone needs to take them out pronto. Once again, tossing Stone (Paris Match, 2014, etc.) into international intrigue produces a kind of negative image of James Bond, with a lot less menace, action and suspense, and a lot more bling. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Hitting shelves soon after Insatiable Appetites (2015), Woods' latest finds Stone Barrington romancing a new lady, as the CIA and FBI grapple with an assassination plot against the newly elected president. Stone has just purchased a new airplane, and he is quickly taken with Pat Frank, the inspector his insurance company sends to join him for his first flight. It should come as no surprise to Woods' fans that Pat comes with baggage: in this case, not one but two jilted would-be suitors. When Pat and Stone make a flight to Europe, both disgruntled men are hot on their trail. Holly Barker, now working directly for the president, has learned of a potential terrorist threat and must discover the identities of the terrorist agents before it's too late. After a few strong outings, Woods misfires with this turgid entry. The two story lines plod along slowly and never quite gel, and both are wrapped up with very little suspense. For Woods' diehards and airplane thriller aficionados only.--Huntley, Kristine Copyright 2015 Booklist

At the start of Edgar-winner Woods's glossy 33rd Stone Barrington novel (after Insatiable Appetites), the bourbon-sipping lawyer and aviator takes possession of a brand-new private jet on a chilly winter's day at an airfield in Wichita, Kans. The Citation M2 comes complete with an attractive female copilot, Pat Frank, with whom widower Stone strikes up a friendship on the flight to New York. When Pat's stalker ex-boyfriend, Kevin Keyes, makes a threatening appearance, Stone and Pat promptly hightail it to London. Meanwhile, dastardly terrorists from Dahai, a fictitious sultanate sandwiched between Yemen and Oman, are making trouble on the international scene. To Woods's credit, many of his characters in high positions are women, including his friend Kate Lee, the American president. Never mind that the parallel plot lines of Kevin's revenge and the Arab terrorist plot never really mesh. Series fans will enjoy the vicarious luxury ride as usual. Author tour. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.