I’ve been relishing Alan Lee’s bracing thriller series starring US Marshal/secret agent Manny Martinez, a native of Puerto Rico but the most patriotic man in America. Manny generally saunters through his stories like a James Bond with better hair (and more scars). The stakes are high, but the tone is light, mostly because Manny refuses (as Stonewall Jackson put it) to take counsel of his fears.

But Martinez, the fourth book in the series, has a different tone. Manny is still Manny, but this time he’ll take a trip into his own past, brought into confrontation with his dark origins.

One day in the Marshals’ office, Manny recognizes a prisoner being interviewed. In a moment, that prisoner murders a marshal, wounds Manny, and makes a clean escape. The prisoner was not the man they thought they’d arrested. He was Manny’s own (probable) half-brother, Julian. When they were boys, they’d been inseparable partners in crime. Manny had been (we learn) the heir apparent to the main crime family in Puerto Rico. But he decided he didn’t want that life, and escaped to the US. Julian felt deeply betrayed. He rose to become one of the top assassins in the world, and now he’s decided the time has come to get his revenge on Manny. But not right away. First he’ll kill everyone Manny loves. In the end, he lures Manny home to P.R. for a final showdown.

Martinez was not as much fun as the previous Manny Martinez (code name Sinatra) novels, but it was exciting and gripping, and the great theme is mercy. I recommend it. Cautions for violence and language.