Synopsis

Meet Max Starkey—disgraced CIA operative turned underworld fixer—whose past loves, rivals, and indiscretions close in on him in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

Seven years after a CIA mission in Laos went sideways, Max lives in the gray spaces between criminals and justice, recovering stolen goods for villains who don’t ask questions. But when he’s lured to Bangkok under false pretenses, his past catches up with him.

The setup: an old flame, Kelly Riggs, now married to his CIA rival.

The job: steal $130 million in dictator-owned gold before a coup ignites.

The problem: everyone plans a double-cross—and Max is the mark. Then there’s Giuliana Abara, Max’s sharp-tongued “companion,” an undercover FBI agent with secrets of her own, who further proves that trust kills and redemption demands blood in this high-octane debut thriller—spanning the streets of Bangkok to the Laotian rainforest— by screenwriter Gregory Poirier.

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Excerpt

The villa was on fire, the woman was nowhere to be seen, and Max was bleeding profusely from the head. The bullet had only grazed his skull, he knew; otherwise, he’d be dead, but even shallow head wounds bleed. He could barely see through the smoke and the blood running into his eyes, but he could hear gunshots and shouting all around him. He pulled his shirt up over his mouth and nose and slid across the cool marble floor on his belly to stay below the smoke, while he tried to figure out where it all went to shit. They had received a coded message sending them to Laos, and the codes were the authentic ones the agency used to send them on actions, down to his individual operative ID. But clearly this raid was not officially sanctioned, and it had gone all to hell the moment they breached the house. They were outnumbered twenty to one, and some of the men trying to kill them were American soldiers.

He found the stairs and slipped down one at a time, his .45-caliber pistol ready in his hand. Halfway down he heard her calling his name.

“Kelly!”

“Here,” she called out, “Max! I’m here!” “Keep talking!”

He made his way toward her voice, staying low, and he saw her boots first, a comforting, familiar sight. She always wore high-end RAT (rugged all-terrain) boots, when they went on an op. He followed the boots until he had her in his arms. He wanted to hold her, to tell her how relieved he was to find her, but there was no time. They helped each other move in the general direction where they figured the door should be.

“I checked and double-checked everything,” he said, “This seemed like a legit op.” The mission had been simple: find and exfiltrate an American spy working in General Vong’s household. But it had been a setup, and by coming to retrieve the spy, they had exposed him. Now he was dead, and they were doing whatever they could not to join him.

“I see the door!” Kelly said, coughing.

She was struggling, but Max kept her on her feet and moving toward the rectangle of light barely visible through the haze.

“Where’s Moss?”

She just shook her head. “Killed maybe. We got separated too.” As he pulled her through the door, Kelly was sagging in his arms.

They both yanked their shirts down from over their faces and gulped the sweet oxygen, still coughing. Gunfire erupted, and bullets rained down around them as Max and Kelly scrambled for cover.

He was splashed with blood as Kelly was hit. Blazing fire behind them, an angry army in front of them, they were in hell. Kelly asked Max two questions as he dragged her to safety:

“Who sent us here?”

And “Are we traitors now?”

Excerpted from A Thousand Cuts © 2026 by Gregory Poirier. Reprinted with permission from Diversion Books, a division of Diversion Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Gregory Poirier is an acclaimed screenwriter, director, and producer whose work spans film and television. His credits include National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Knox Goes Away, and Rosewood. A graduate of the USC School of Theater and the UCLA Masters program in screenwriting, he brings a sharp, cinematic eye to fiction. A Thousand Cuts is his debut novel. He lives in Los Angeles.

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