Stone Barrington's latest dalliance with President Holly Barker at his Maine island retreat is interrupted by the discovery of a dead man. CIA director Lance Cabot commands that the twice-shot man, who's carrying CIA identification under the name John Collins, be moved from the deck of the Dark Harbor ferry to Stone's garage, but Holly doesn't think he actually knows the dead man. When Stone returns home to Manhattan, he's soon visited by Collins' widow, model-turned--fashion magazine editor Vanessa Morgan whom he proceeds to solace between the sheets. He's disconcerted when Vanessa reports that the husband whose death interrupted their divorce is very much alive. Stone and his old NYPD partner, Commissioner Dino Bacchetti, are soon in a position to confirm these reports--and so is Lance, despite his initial resistance to them. Sadly, Jack Collins, who turns out to be a friend of Stone's from NYU Law School, is given precious little to do after returning from the grave, as the focus shifts to Stone's attempts to keep Vanessa and himself from being targeted for death by Valery Majorov, the Russian operative who thought he'd killed Jack. Stone spirits Vanessa off to Windward Hall, his estate in England, where he introduces her to MI6 director Dame Felicity Devonshire and they all fall into bed together. On their return to New York, though, both Stone and Vanessa find themselves in the sights of a resourceful female assassin who just won't take no for an answer. A frank indulgence for the author and readers who share his preference for abrupt scene changes over a consequential plot. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

During a severe storm, the body of a man, shot twice in the head, is found on the ferry to the island of Islesboro, Maine, in bestseller Woods's twisty 63rd novel starring New York attorney Stone Barrington (after Black Dog). Inside the man's wallet are credentials identifying him as CIA officer John Collins. At the request of the police, Stone, who has a house on the island, agrees to keep the corpse in his garage until the weather clears and it can be airlifted to the morgue. When Stone's longtime paramour and houseguest, U.S. president Holly Barker, phones CIA director Lance Cabot, Cabot is at first equivocal and then denies Collins's existence. The next day, Stone returns to New York, where he's soon visited by Collins's sexy widow, Vanessa Morgan, who confirms her husband worked for the CIA. Stone soon falls into bed with Vanessa--and narrowly avoids becoming the victim of a seductive female Russian agent at P.J. Clarke's, his favorite restaurant. For a refreshing change, the imperturbable Stone doesn't always keep his cool en route to the cinematic climax, a clash with faceless villains on boats off Key West, Fla. Chalk up another winner to Woods. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Oct.)

Published not quite three months after his death, this is Woods' sixty-third Stone Barrington novel (but possibly not the last, as at least one more appears to be in the pipeline). Cop turned private investigator/attorney Barrington has a problem: a dead man has washed up onto his property after a big storm. Who is the man? Well, that's the question that will cause Barrington much consternation and see him going up against U.S. government agents and foreign elements. When a series runs as long as this one has (it launched in 1991, with sometimes as many as four books published in a single year), there usually comes a point when it begins to feel tired. Not so with the indefatigable Stone Barrington. The series always followed something of a formula, with the superwealthy Barrington cavorting and romancing his way around the globe, but somehow Woods managed to keep the characters fresh, the escapist plots interesting enough, and the villains intriguing. This one checks all the boxes.

With five Stuart Woods thrillers publishing yearly, it's hard to keep track, but this one is the next in long-running Stone Barrington series, a top fan favorite.