Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Henry Porter, who has been widely hailed as a next-generation John le Carré, is a bestselling author in the UK and has won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award. From the refugee camps of Greece to the mountains of Macedonia, a thirteen-year-old boy is making his way to Germany and to safety. Codenamed "Firefly," he holds vital intelligence: unparalleled insight into a vicious ISIS terror cell, and details of their plans. But the terrorists are hot on his trail, determined he won't live to pass on the information.

When MI6 become aware of Firefly and what he knows, the race is on to find him. Luc Samson, ex-MI6 agent and now private eye, finds himself recruited to the cause. Fluent in Arabic thanks to his Lebanese heritage and himself the product of an earlier era of violent civil war, Samson's job is to find Firefly, win his trust, and get him to safety.

A devastatingly timely thriller following the refugee trail from Syria to Europe, Firefly is a sophisticated, breathtaking race against time from an author who brings a whole new level of urgency to the genre.

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

His head went under. Seawater filled his nose and mouth; his eyes opened and he saw the black depths of the ocean below him. A moment later something knocked his legs - maybe part of the wreckage, he couldn't tell. All he knew was that he was going to die. Then it came again. This time there was a distinct shove on his buttocks and whatever it was that moved with such intent beneath him lifted him up so his head and shoulders came out of the water and he was able to grab a plastic toggle on the section of the rubber craft that was still inflated. He clung to the toggle and retched and blinked and blinked again. The sea was very strange to the boy, with its violence and the salty water that stung his eyes and the gash on his head that had been made with the handle of a gun by one of the men when they were being herded onto the raft. He rubbed his eyes with the knuckle of his free hand and cast around. There was nothing to see in the dawn, not even the shadow of the coast they'd spotted a few minutes before the boat had begun to sink. Excerpted from Firefly by Henry Porter All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Porter (The Bell Ringers) presents a thriller straight out of today's headlines. A bright Syrian teenage boy witnessed a mass killing committed by an ISIS terror cell and is now on the run to Europe. British intelligence recruits agent-turned-private investigator Luc Samson to locate the young man. Samson's own family escaped from Lebanon during the earlier civil wars. He trails the boy through Greece into the Balkans and central Europe. The story alternates between Samson and his team's efforts to locate the boy and the young man's experience making the rough journey through various camps and the people encountered on the road. Porter provides a vivid description of the waves of refugees arriving from the Middle East and Africa looking for a safe haven in Europe. Reader Matt Addis does an excellent job. VERDICT Recommended to listeners interested in fiction based on true events. ["Naji's and Samson's interlaced histories will appeal to readers who enjoy thrillers enriched with social and political issues and driven by suspenseful episodes of flight and pursuit": LJ 7/18 review of the Mysterious hc.]-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Parkersburg Lib. © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In this impressive if flawed thriller from British author Porter (The Bell Ringers), Luc Samson, an ex-MI6 agent hired by his former employer, tries to locate 13-year-old Naji Touma, who has fled his native Syria for Germany to reunite with his family. Authorities suspect that the boy, recruited against his will into ISIS for his technological skills, managed to encrypt a wealth of secret ISIS data on his cellphone, including hundreds of videos showing ISIS leader Al-munajil (aka the Machete) decapitating innocent Syrians. That last fact hasn't escaped the notice of Al-munajil, who has set out with a handful of henchmen to get to Naji and his phone before Samson does. Porter excels at describing the life of trekking migrants and the atmosphere in the camps of Greece. The plot, however, sags from inaction as Naji makes his way across Southern Europe and his pursuers try to stay close. A lively ending helps, but many readers may have grown frustrated by then. Still, fans of Porter's previous books will find much to admire. Agent: Emma Parry, Janklow & Nesbit. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Naji Touma, barely in his teens, has found a way to make money that will enable his unlucky family to flee Turkey. He repairs cellphones. From a phone belonging to one of his clients, a purely evil ISIS terrorist, Naji learns of horrors the monster has committed. And the phone reveals his plans for more. This makes the boy a person of extreme interest to the terrorist cell when he sets out for a better life in Europe. As the killers pursue the "spy boy from hell" to kill him, news of his special knowledge reaches the intelligence services, and their hired people-finder, PI Luc Samson, begins a search of his own. Who will find the boy first? That's the premise that drives the intricate machinery of this novel, which alternates bravura passages and sludgy sequences that can leave readers feeling they're forging through the same chapter over and over. It all comes together in the last 50 pages, which are distinguished by fine writing, rousing action, and an especially haunting confrontation with "the results of pure evil."--Don Crinklaw Copyright 2018 Booklist