The Coming Storm (The Coming Darkness Book Two) by Greg Mosse

 

The Coming Storm (The Coming Darkness Book Two) by Greg Mosse.

Published 25th April 2024 by Moonflower Books.

From the cover of the book:

SOMETIMES THE CALM IS DEADLIER THAN THE STORM.

The hotly-anticipated sequel to Sunday Times Thriller of the Year The Coming Darkness sees the return of special agent Alexandre Lamarque.

He may have saved the world from darkness, but he knows his work is not done yet.

There’s still a terrorist threat out there, pulling together the strands of a new and even more destructive conspiracy to bring the world to its knees.

Battling with personal tragedy on one hand, and the intrusion of new-found celebrity on the other, Alex and his allies must re-emerge from self-imposed exile to face the fight of their lives.

From the streets of Paris, the lithium mines of Southern Mali, and the mighty Aswan Dam, they come up against forces whose intentions are as devious as they are malign. Time is against them, and there’s more at stake than ever. Can they survive the coming storm?

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Having saved the world from disaster in The Coming Darkness, special agent Alexandre Lamarque and fellow operatives, his lover, Mariam Jordane, and close friend, Amaury Barra, have been ordered to lie low. This is harder than anticipated given the fame that comes with the widely circulated stories of their heroic deeds, as it not only makes them of great interest to journalists hungry for headlines, but also those who seek revenge for the plans they foiled. Alex knows that this job is far from finished, but tracing the threads of conspiracy that linger is extremely difficult now he cannot operate from the shadows, even with his remarkable powers of intuition. 

As Alex and his team gradually get back to work, they must navigate a whole new set of pressures. They are taken on different paths around the world as their personal lives become caught up with their professional duties, and it becomes clear that the fate of the world lies in their hands once again. A storm is coming, and the clock is counting down...

Picking up the threads of the rollicking first part of this series, The Coming Darkness (which you should read before this book), Greg Mosse pitches Alex Lamarque against enemies who are even more devious than the shady Tabula Rosa organisation. Marked by personal tragedies, and trying to keep out of the public eye, Alex, Mariam and Amaury are sent in separate directions this time around, each with their own role to play in different parts of the globe. 

The disparate threads unfurl with a simmering slow-burn, reaching boiling point only in the final stretch of the book, and Mosse touches on a veritable feast of themes through the twisting plotlines he contrives for Alex, Mariam, and Amaury - and the characters holding the fort back home. There is less of the team-work I enjoyed in the first book, but I liked that Mariam and Amaury get much meatier parts to play in the overall story as a result. 

With luscious descriptions of location, and plenty to get your teeth into around the motivations of the characters, there is a lot to occupy your attention in the near future Alex inhabits, where the global impact of climate change is starting to bite. Mosse delves into water politics; complex relationships between corporate organisations and governments; the secretive plans of those who wish to protect themselves while the world burns; and the aims of terrorists vs peaceful protesters. There is some very thought provoking stuff here about what it really takes to build and run a successful survivalist stronghold in the face of extinction level events too.

This very much has the feel of a second book in a trilogy, maintaining a constant menacing pitch before smacking you full in the face with bold moves and emotional surprises in the final swathes of the story, in order to pull you into book three... which I really hope comes soon, as I need to know what happens next!

The Coming Storm is available to buy now in paperback, and ebook.

Thank you to Moonflower Books for sending me a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Greg's first career was in theatre as actor, director & writer. He has lived and worked in Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Madrid. 

Having worked as an interpreter at a variety of international institutions, in 2015 Greg returned to theatre. Since then, he has written and produced 25 plays and musicals. 

His debut novel, The Coming Darkness, was named Best Thriller 2022 accolade from The Times and one of the Books of the Year by the Sunday Times. It was endorsed by big names like Lee Child and Anthony Horowitz, and Greg appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4 Front Row. 

He now lives in Sussex with his wife, the novelist Kate Mosse.