Book Review: Messenger for the Dead (A Mathieu James Thriller)

Reviewed by Tomi Alo

The pursuit of justice sizzles with intensity in this Mathieu James thriller.

Matthew Fults brings back all the good things (and then some) from The Scotland Project. It picks up just a week after the events in Edinburgh, and the tension hasn’t cooled down.

American investigative journalist Mathieu James, still shaken from all the chaos and violence, is now neck-deep in something much bigger. What started out as a personal mission—to track down the fifth bomber responsible for the 7/7 attacks and finally bring justice for his parents—has led him into a wider, more dangerous terrorist conspiracy. Aadan Mukhtaar, the man at the center of it all, unfortunately managed to slip through the cracks just when justice was within reach.

But when a mysterious yacht turns up on the shores of Norway, the chase reignites. James, once again, teams up with Conan MacGregor, CIA analyst Alyssa Stevens, longtime colleague Ana-Marie Poulin, and several other law and intelligence officials to capture Aadan. The danger is real, and the stakes are much higher, especially with the connection between Aadan and the Russian intelligence.

Now, the world is watching, and things are no longer just a mere matter of revenge. Dead or alive, Aadan must be brought to justice. And James and his team are ready to use whatever means necessary to ensure that happens.

The one thing I loved about Messenger for the Dead is how Fults doesn’t rush the chaos in the pursuit, despite it being the majority of the plot; instead, he builds tension slowly through sharp, realistic dialogue. Much of the action from the novel isn’t in explosions or gunfire. It’s in the meetings, the coded calls, the dead ends, and the race against time through the different intelligence networks working together to capture the mastermind responsible for hundreds of deaths and thousands of wounded casualties in three different mass terror events.

“The CIA’s AI and facial recognition unit is working overtime monitoring ports, airports, train stations… Let’s make it our goal that he doesn’t leave this country without capture.”

James may be the lead, but this isn’t a one-man show. Just like in the first novel, Messenger for the Dead follows multiple characters and offers changing scenes that transform the novel in multifaceted ways. You are not in one place for too long. One moment you are on a yacht questioning a Russian handyman, and next you are with Ana-Marie discussing how the plan is coming along with French intelligence sources.

All in all, Messenger for the Dead doesn’t disappoint. It captures the momentum of The Scotland Project but raises the stakes in every way—bigger threat, deeper networks, and tighter pacing. And just when you think things have settled, Fults pulls the rug. What happens in the final pages cuts deep. It’s personal. And it guarantees one thing: James’s story is far from over.

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