There are shades of Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme in quadriplegic forensics consultant Lucas Page, protagonist of Robert Pobi's standout thriller City of Windows. Page is not quite as physically challenged as Rhyme, but as a result of a shooting some 10 years ago, he is burdened with the loss of an arm and a leg, as well as the loss of sight in one eye. Once a crack FBI field agent, Page has retreated into an academic life. And then something rattles his peaceful post-FBI existence: the assassination of his former partner by a sniper's bullet, a seemingly impossible shot fired from a rooftop during a blinding snowstorm. Page reluctantly agrees to come out of retirement to help with the investigation of the shooting. His almost three-dimensional grasp of velocities and trajectories borders on the uncanny, and he is thus uniquely suited to the task at hand. Unfortunately, the shooting is only the first in a series of virtually impossible sniper shots targeting a member of the law enforcement community. The tension ratchets up for the reader just as it does for Page as he and his loved ones find themselves in the crosshairs. Pobi has written five other books, but this is his first thriller. It would seem he has found his calling.

Pobi (American Woman; Bloodman) launches a new series featuring retired FBI agent, astrophysicist, and double amputee Dr. Lucas Page, who is summoned back to the FBI after a sniper kills his former partner. Frustration mounts as the killings continue and the politicians and bureaucrats want to implicate a radical Islamic sympathizer despite evidence to the contrary. Page, with his unique ability to see things using numbers and patterns, takes the investigation in a different direction, finding a connection among the victims to home in on a killer seeking revenge. This title has all that a good thriller/police procedural should: a ruthless villain always a step ahead of a gruff and often unlikable hero, both of whom have seemingly preternatural abilities; internal agency squabbles; a snowstorm that hampers the investigation; and plenty of twists and turns in the plot. Readers get just enough background on Page's upbringing and early career to leave open the possibility that the next book in the series will be a prequel. VERDICT A fast-paced, topical thriller that checks the boxes in the genre, perhaps a little automatically. Will appeal to fans of John Sandford, Lee Child, and Brian Freeman. [See Prepub Alert, 2/11/19.]—George Lichman, Rocky River, OH

Brilliant astrophysicist Lucas Page, the distinctive hero of this outstanding series launch from Pobi (American Woman), used to be an FBI agent who could survey a crime scene and automatically convert the topography to geometric forms and numbers. This ability would allow him, for example, to pinpoint the origin of a gunshot in the middle of a city. Then the loss of a leg, an arm, and an eye in a shoot-out put an end to his FBI career and his first marriage, but his mental acuity remained. Ten years later, Lucas teaches at Columbia University and writes books; he and his second wife are raising five foster children. When Lucas's former FBI partner, Doug Hartke, is fatally shot by a sniper while driving in Midtown Manhattan, he reluctantly agrees to help FBI special agent Brett Kehoe track down the culprit. Lucas quickly determines the sniper's rooftop location, but it was a close to impossible shot, "like trying to thread a needle while riding a mechanical bull set to Motörhead." More shootings occur, and the victims' only connections are law enforcement careers. The tense plot is balanced by the prickly Lucas's cerebral investigating skills. This promises to be Pobi's breakout thriller. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary. (Aug.)