Tim Tigner, Chasing Ivan

Kyle Achilles is a former Olympic biathlete turned CIA operative. In this novella, which I scored for free from the author's website, he's tracking down an elusive Russian bad guy they call Ivan, a man who's so careful to keep in the shadows that he's got contingency plans for his contingency plans. He seems to be set on influencing the outcome of the London mayoral election by getting his hands on the daughter of one of the candidates. Achilles and a colleague—an agent who's just completed training at The Farm—follow the girl to Monaco, and there are some very cool reconnaissance and action scenes on both their parts. I liked this one enough that I've purchased the first full novel in Tigner's Achilles series, Pushing Brilliance.

(Wow. I just realized that Chasing Ivan and Pushing Brilliance are both self-published through Amazon. Now, I'm not really a snob when it comes to this—I've self-published myself—but you can usually tell when a manuscript hasn't been through the rigors of traditional publishing, even if it's just from the quality of the cover. Not in this case. I had no idea until now. Very impressed.)