3. Mastermind by Andrew Mayne

#1 Theo Cray & Jessica Blackwell

listened on Audible

2021
332 pgs.
Adult Mystery/Thriller/Espionage
Finished 1/7/2022
Goodreads rating:  4.32
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary all over the world, actually

My comments: From the very beginning, none of the story has any actual believability, but if you keep tongue in cheek and think of this as a fantasy, it's quite intriguing!  It takes leaps and bounds, uses non-existent clues, gives head-scratching (and quick) pseudo-explanations for most things, and leaves the reader totally clueless in places, but it's still one heck of a ride/read!  The antagonist, Michael Haywood aka The Mastermind, has been toying with Jessica for years.  And bringing Theo and Jessica together was a stroke of genius.  Both are too smart (or believable) for their owns goods and they are certainly attracted to each other.  I enjoyed it!

Goodreads synopsis:  A mysterious electrical storm plunges Manhattan into darkness. As a strange, smothering fog rolls in, all communication crashes. In the blink of an eye, the island seems to vanish into a void.

FBI special agent Jessica Blackwood and brilliant scientist Dr. Theo Cray know this isn’t a freak accident. It’s a sinister sleight of hand. Their greatest adversary, a serial killer and cultist known as the Warlock, has escaped during a prison transfer in New York. A depraved master of manipulation, he promised the end of days. He’s making good on it.

One by one, cities across the globe are erupting in chaos as they disappear into the same black holes. Even for two ingenious trackers like Jessica and Theo, there’s still so much to learn about the pattern to the Warlock’s madness. The voids are just a warm-up for something bigger. To discover it—to stop it—Jessica and Theo must descend into the darkest of shadows—and minds.