Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite

In Enemy at the Helm by Mark Dickson, coordinated maritime attacks strike major American ports and key global canals, beginning with the destruction of the cruise ship Leviathan off Miami. As the shipping channels are blocked and infrastructure collapses, investigators trace the operation to a network that spans extremist groups, foreign operatives, and covert financiers. NYPD detective Chuck Haggard, FBI agents including Paul O’Malley and Stefano Alvarez, and federal analyst Sam Jensen follow digital evidence, drone forensics, and human intelligence across multiple countries. Their search converges on Gellert Demyan, an elusive coordinator moving through Venezuela while maintaining contact with associates tied to the assaults. Supported by interagency teams and naval assets, the investigators pursue him across borders in an effort to stop further disruption and uncover the full architecture of the plot before additional strikes can be set in motion.

Mark Dickson’s Enemy at the Helm is an absolutely rip-roaring, fast-paced thriller that races across the globe at nearly the same speed as the suspense he dishes out. We hop from an operation off the Venezuelan coast by small craft with a military jet that strafes the water, to a later storm at sea that sweeps a uniquely named teammate overboard during a nighttime intervention. I like Chuck Haggard, who happens to be my favorite character. He also has a heartbreaking tragedy that quickly endeared him to me as a reader and made me understand why he gets involved. Tom Jensen taught me plenty about drones and the art of the tackle in dense jungle terrain. Dickson is a sharp, intelligent writer with a strong grasp on what it takes to make a geopolitical conspiracy thriller work, with the added skill of turning all things maritime into a stage for gunfire, radar tracking, and moving targets. Readers who like books with interagency investigations and international pursuits will love Enemy at the Helm.