Kim Jong Gone — Hal Friedman

Only months ago, it was inconceivable that the notorious North Korean despot, Kim Jong-un, would visit America for disarmament talks. As he finally leaves his cocoon, the world holds its breath, waiting for something to go wrong, and something unimaginable does. After an assassination attempt in a New York City tunnel, Kim isn't in his devastated limo. He isn't anywhere. When bizarre ransom notes arrive a few days later, we're into the most unlikely and audacious kidnapping of all time.

Luke Gabriel is a tough and highly principled ex-NYPD security expert asked to covertly protect Kim, but he's terribly conflicted. His brother disappeared filming a documentary at the DMZ, and Luke is certain he's being held captive by North Korea. He wasn't among the prisoners recently released by Kim. Luke has to make a gut-wrenching decision to save his brother's keeper and justify it to his young family.

When a ransom note is received at the Chinese Embassy, Luke's job changes from protection to rescue. The NYPD, and FBI hunt for Kim, together with an unknown gang bent on killing the missing dictator for their own reasons. The stakes suddenly spike when North Korea starts executing previously unaccounted-for prisoners and one of the released prisoners' reports having seen an American who matches his brother's description

In their secret hideaway, three bizarre kidnappers, led by a power-crazed woman, are in a frenzy looking for a way out of what was a spur of the moment kidnapping and slowly turning on each other. Luke's search will take him and a Special Ops team to a tiny, deserted island in the East River. After risking his life to save the hated dictator, Luke seizes the moment in a go-for-broke end game to save his brother. v