Ex-military contractor Josh Duffy, the hero of this enjoyable thriller from bestseller Greaney (the Gray Man series), lost a leg in his last mission and now works as a mall cop in Virginia. Low on self-esteem and struggling to provide for his family, Duffy leaps at the chance to join a private protection squad hired to guard a team of UN representatives venturing deep into Mexico in hopes of bringing peace to warring drug cartels and negotiating the return of 60 shoulder-launched missiles one cartel stole from the Mexican military. Fully aware that his new employer has a checkered reputation, Duffy ignores some early red flags and embarks with 21 other mercenaries into the Sierra Madre, all the while trying to conceal his prosthetic left leg. As the protection unit reaches a treacherous ridge known as the Devil's Spine, the cartels close in and Duffy discovers that he and his fellow mercs have been deceived from the start about the mission's true intent. Explosive action sequences follow as Duffy and company seek to retreat to flat land and safety, and Duffy proves to be more than just a hardened military tactician. Readers will hope he'll be back for an encore. Agent: Scott Miller, Trident Media Group. (July)

Having lost his lower left leg while protecting a client, former bodyguard Joshua Duffy now works dispiritedly as a mall cop in New Jersey. Then he's offered one last glory job: protecting a UN mission attempting to broker peace between violent drug cartels in Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains. Based on Greaney's Audible Original drama, Armored.

The title doesn't say much. Greaney could accurately have called this military thriller Bloodbath: A Love Story. Josh Duffy loses a leg doing mercenary work in Lebanon, so three years later he has sunk to being "the sheriff of Tysons Galleria" in Virginia, ashamed that he can't fully provide for his wife, Nikki, and their two children. She's an ex-Army captain and chopper pilot who'd been shot down in Iraq and rescued by--wait for it--Josh Duffy. True love and hard times follow; a nasty, failed protection detail in the Middle East leaves the protectee dead and Josh's life forever changed. Now Nikki is a full-time mom running a small cleaning business to tide them over. Then Duffy has a seemingly chance encounter with another merc at the mall who expresses shock that "Duff from Jalalabad is a fucking mall cop!" The friend quickly sets him up with Armored Saint, which has a rep of being the worst private military contractor on the planet. "Armored Saint? Those guys are psychos," says Duffy. "This gig is dog shit," says his old pal, "but it pays through the roof" and will get Duffy out of his immediate financial straits. Desperate, he signs up for a three-week gig to lead one of three teams protecting a U.N. delegation that hopes to broker peace among warring cartels in Mexico's Sierra Madre. It should be a straightforward mission and easy money. But even before they reach the treacherous ridge called the Devil's Spine, guns start blazing and bodies start falling. Josh's own team is a handful, questioning his leadership with smartass comments even before they learn about his prosthetic leg. Meanwhile, Josh and Nikki are often on the phone as he tries with increasing difficulty to reassure her that all is well. She wants him home safely, but at the rate things are going, he'll come home in a box. How she shows her fierce love for her husband is both implausible and contrived, but it's great fun for the reader. Greaney dumps a ton of trouble on the hero, and there's never a dull page. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.