The Killing Files

June 5, 2017
In Owen’s scattered second book in the Project trilogy, 33-year-old doctor Maria Martinez, who’s somehow involved with the secretive Project and MI5, has gotten out of London’s Goldmouth Prison, where she was held for allegedly murdering a Catholic priest in 2016’s Subject 375. She’s home in Spain’s Salamancan Mountains, but has 35 hours, according to the chapter heads, before she enters confinement in an undisclosed location. Since her location can change mid-chapter, events seem to occur almost randomly. Maria’s efforts to protect her family, including her parents and her brother, cause her to flee such enemies as the mysterious torturer Doctor Carr and prison pseudopsychiatrist Doctor Andersson, who want to kill her and her loved ones. The key to survival lies in finding a hidden file. Fierce battles, narrow escapes, and surprising revelations about her family leave Maria, and the reader, struggling to keep up in this confusing story of power run amok. Agent: Adam Gauntlett, Peters, Fraser, and Dunlop.

July 1, 2017
In this sequel to Subject 375 (2016), Dr. Maria Martinez goes underground in Salamanca, Spain, after being cleared of murder charges manufactured by MI5's covert antiterrorism project, Callidus. Callidus wiped her memory, but Maria has pieced together flashbacks of the childhood testing and training sessions that molded her into a dangerous operative. Having failed to neutralize her through incarceration, MI5 orders Maria's death, and she barely escapes a Callidus assassin at her safe house. Helped by easygoing expat hacker Chris (a contact of her oldest friend, Balthus), Maria flees to Madrid, where she allows Callidus to capture her so she can search its headquarters for the truth behind her terrifying flashbacks. This trilogy's first novel won a strong following on social media, attracting readers with its strong suspense and the unique perspective of a protagonist with Asperger's syndrome. Here, compelling vulnerability exposed by Maria's quest to understand her childhood and the staccato-paced narrative promise to draw still more thriller and espionage fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)