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The Lightning Rod: A Zig & Nola Novel (Escape Artist, 2) Hardcover – March 8, 2022
| Brad Meltzer (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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New York Times Bestseller
“Nola is the most accomplished kicker of ass since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” —A. J. Finn
Zig and Nola are back—in the hugely entertaining, highly anticipated follow-up to Brad Meltzer’s #1 New York Times bestselling thriller The Escape Artist.
What’s the one secret no one knows about you?
Archie Mint has a secret. He’s led a charmed life—he’s got a beautiful wife, two impressive kids, and a successful military career. But when he’s killed while trying to stop a robbery in his own home, his family is shattered—and then shocked when the other shoe drops. Mint’s been hiding criminal secrets none of them could have imagined.
While working on Mint’s body before his funeral, mortician “Zig” Zigarowski discovers something he was never meant to see. That telling detail leads him to Mint’s former top secret military unit and his connection to artist Nola Brown. Two years ago, Nola saved Zig’s life—so he knows better than most that she’s as volatile and dangerous as a bolt of lightning.
Following Nola’s trail, he uncovers one of the U.S. government’s most intensely guarded secrets—an undisclosed military facility that dates back to the Cold War and holds the key to something far more sinister: a hidden group willing to compromise the very safety and security of America itself.
Trouble always finds her…
She’s the lightning rod.
- Print length432 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow
- Publication dateMarch 8, 2022
- Dimensions6 x 1.33 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100062892401
- ISBN-13978-0062892409
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Government secrets fuel Meltzer’s exciting Lightning Rod...a rip-roaring, energetic thriller that begins on a high note and only accelerates….Meltzer… strikes gold again." — Sun Sentinel (Florida)
“The Lightning Rod is my favorite Brad Meltzer novel—so far—and that’s high, high praise. The book is a one-of-a-kind thrill ride with half a dozen memorable characters. My personal favorite is Zig, but Waggs, Roddy and Nola aren’t far behind.” — James Patterson
“Enigmatic and mysterious, Nola is a force. Great plotting. Great characters. The Lightning Rod is Meltzer at his finest.” — Karin Slaughter
“[A] character-rich adventure… With entangled family tragedies that go back several years and childhood traumas that extend into the present, the plot of The Lightning Rod overflows—and thrills.” — Wall Street Journal
“Zig and Nola are back in this fast-moving thriller laced with blood and wit… The characters are delightful… There’s plenty of clever dialogue and details... A smart crime package, both funny and serious.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Nola Brown is one of recent fiction's all-time great characters, and Meltzer's subtle pacing and narrative charm mean we can't take our eyes off her for a single moment—trust me, this is a terrific, compelling, unputdownable thriller." — Lee Child
“Meltzer is back with another twisting, suspense-filled story, and so too is his prized protagonist, Nola, who remains as fascinating as ever…[Meltzer’s plot] moves at breakneck speed…Bottom line: this is Meltzer’s best work to date, and the sky is the limit for this series moving forward.” — Real Book Spy
“[An] exciting sequel. . . . Meltzer makes his leads emotionally plausible. One hopes Zig and Nola will be back soon.” — Publishers Weekly
“There are few authors who do dialogue that is as sharp and witty as Brad Meltzer does in The Lightning Rod... The characters, plot, pace, and premise work together like a well-rehearsed orchestra. Meltzer is a master storyteller and a superb wordsmith.” — Nelson DeMille
“No other A+ author whips up better dialogue... But it’s his characters who most excite and engage. Nola and Zig will pull you into a story as entertaining as any by David Baldacci. And Nola is the most accomplished kicker of ass since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” — A. J. Finn
“As close to perfect as a thriller can get. Nola and Zig make for an appealing, polished pairing, a key component in making The Lightning Rod terrific in all respects.” — Providence Journal
“Meltzer likes his conspiracy stories, and he puts a lot of work into them, but he seems to love his characters just as much. Zig and Nola are two of his strongest characters, and it feels like there are plenty more stories to be told about them.” — Booklist
"Meltzer is a master and this is his best. Not since The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo have you seen a character like this. Get ready to meet Nola. If you've never tried Meltzer, this is the one." — Harlan Coben on The Escape Artist
"This novel is like a launched torpedo slashing through 400 pages of deep water before reaching impact. Enjoy one of the best thriller rides ever." — David Baldacci on The Escape Artist
"The Escape Artist has a magic trick up its sleeve. Part Lisbeth Salander, part Homeland's Carrie Mathison. One of the most memorable characters I've read in years. Look out—Nola's coming. This is Meltzer in peak form." — Lisa Scottoline
"Highly entertaining... Meltzer keeps the action crackling... There's no escaping the solid storytelling of The Escape Artist." — Oline Cogdill, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
"The Escape Artist is Brad Meltzer's best book in years... Meltzer weaves a stellar tale of history, government-insider knowledge, and thrills... the rare novel that one wants to read fast while also needing to go slow to savor every word." — Jeff Ayers, Associated Press
"Brad Meltzer has done it again! The Escape Artist is an exciting, cutting-edge thriller you will not be able to put down. If you love twists, tension, and tons of amazing characters, treat yourself to this gripping tale by one of the absolute best in the business." — Brad Thor
"The Escape Artist is a slingshot of a novel. Brad Meltzer expertly pulls it back and lets it go, propelling the unlikeliest of heroes forward in a high stakes, high tension thriller that never lets you catch your breath. My advice: Buckle up!" — Michael Connelly
"A throat-clenching masterpiece of suspense-and damned ingenious to boot. My jaw dropped once more--and so will yours." — James Rollins on The Escape Artist
"Stellar...With its remarkable plot and complex characters, this page-turner not only entertains but also provides a fascinating glimpse into American history." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Escape Artist
"Gripping... a true page-turner." — Library Journal (starred review) on The Escape Artist
About the Author
Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve thrillers including The Escape Artist, and nonfiction books such as The Lincoln Conspiracy and the Ordinary People Change the World series. He is also the host of the TV show Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on the History Channel. He lives in Florida with his wife and three children.
Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow (March 8, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 432 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062892401
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062892409
- Item Weight : 1.25 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.33 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #29,191 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #185 in Conspiracy Thrillers (Books)
- #795 in Thriller & Suspense Action Fiction
- #1,614 in Murder Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle, The Book of Fate, and nine other bestselling thrillers including The Tenth Justice, The First Counsel, The Millionaires, and The President’s Shadow. His most recent book, The Escape Artist, debuted at #1 on the bestseller list. His non-fiction book, The First Conspiracy, is about a real life secret plot to kill George Washington and is out now. And his upcoming book is The Lincoln Conspiracy, about a FIRST secret plot to kill Abraham Lincoln.
In addition to his fiction, Brad is one of the only authors to ever have books on the bestseller list for Non-Fiction (History Decoded), Advice (Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter), Children’s Books (I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln) and even comic books (Justice League of America), for which he won the prestigious Eisner Award.
He is also the host of Brad Meltzer’s Lost History on H2 and Brad Meltzer’s Decoded on the History Channel. The Hollywood Reporter recently put him on their list of Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors.
Brad is also responsible for helping find the missing 9/11 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero, making national news on the 15th anniversary of 9/11. Using his TV show, Brad Meltzer's Lost History, he told the story of the missing flag and asked Americans for their help in returning it. Four days later, a former Marine walked into a fire station in Everett, Washington, said he saw Meltzer's TV show, and now wanted to return the flag. Meltzer recently unveiled the flag at the 9/11 Museum in New York, where it is now on display. See the video here.
For sure, it’s tough to find anyone being so successful in so many different mediums of the popular culture. But why does Brad thrive in all these different professions? His belief that ordinary people change the world. It is that core belief that runs through every one of his projects.
His newest thriller, The Escape Artist, introduces Nola and Zig, brand new characters in a setting that will blow your mind (you won't believe where the government let Brad go). For now, we'll say this: Nola is dead. Everyone says she's dead. But Jim "Zig" Zigarowski just found out the truth: Nola is alive. And on the run. Together, Nola and Zig will reveal a centuries old secret that traces back the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini. The Escape Artist arrives in March 2018.
His illustrated children’s books I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln were written for his own children, to give them better heroes to look up to. Try them. You won’t believe how inspired you and your family will be. The next in the series will be I am Leonardo da Vinci (April). A TV show based on the series just debuted on PBS: Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum.
His other non-fiction books, Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter, are collections of heroes – from Jim Henson to Sally Ride — that he’s been working on since the day his kids were born and is on sale now, as well as History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time.
He’s also one of the co-creators of the TV show, Jack & Bobby.
Raised in Brooklyn and Miami, Brad is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Columbia Law School. The Tenth Justice was his first published work and became an instant New York Times bestseller. Dead Even followed a year later and also hit the New York Times bestseller list, as have all eight of his novels. The First Counsel came next, which was about a White House lawyer dating the President’s daughter, then The Millionaires, which was about two brothers who steal money and go on the run. The Zero Game is about two Congressional staffers who are – literally – gambling on Congress. The Book of Fate, is about a young presidential aide, a crazed assassin, and the 200 year-old code created by Thomas Jefferson that ties them together. For authenticity, The Book of Fate, was researched with the help of former Presidents Clinton and Bush. The Book of Lies, is about the missing murder weapon that Cain used to kill Abel, as well as the unsolved murder of Superman creator Jerry Siegel’s father. Brad is one of the only people to interview Jerry Siegel’s family about the murder and, with his charitable site www.OrdinaryPeopleChangeTheWorld.com, has been the driving force behind the movement to repair the house where Superman was created.
His book The Inner Circle (and its sequels, The Fifth Assassin and The President’s Shadow) is based the idea that George Washington’s personal spy ring still exists today. A young archivist in the National Archives finds out the spy ring is still around. He doesn’t know who they work for — but the greatest secret of the Presidency is about to be revealed. While researching the book, former President George HW Bush also gave Brad, for the very first time, the secret letter he left for Bill Clinton in the Oval Office desk. Oh, and yes, Brad was recruited by the Department of Homeland Security to brainstorm different ways that terrorists might attack the US.
His books have spent over a year on the bestseller lists, and have been translated into over 25 languages, from Hebrew to Bulgarian. In The Tenth Justice, the opening lines are: “Ben Addison was sweating. Like a pig.” In the Hebrew translation, it became: “Ben Addison was sweating. Like a horse.” We’re not sure if it’s a kosher thing or what!
Brad has played himself as an extra in Woody Allen’s Celebrity, co-wrote the swearing in oath for AmeriCorps, the national service program, and earned credit from Columbia Law School for writing his first book, which became The Tenth Justice. Before all of that, he got 24 rejection letters for his true first novel, which still sits on his shelf, published by Kinko’s.
Brad currently lives in Florida with his wife, who’s also an attorney.
Customer reviews
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This story begins with Zig, who until recently worked at the US Air Force Aerial Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, as a mortician is contacted out of the blue by someone he knows from his old job. Zig is asked to drop what he’s doing to provide post-mortem care to a recently deceased Army Lt Colonel named Archie Mint who supposedly worked at the Dover mortuary. Zig agrees and when he finds Mint has been killed by a gunshot to the face and he gets to work preparing the body for the funeral. While attending the service Zig spots a familiar face in the crowd, SFC Nola Brown, who saved his life two years ago. Suddenly Nola takes flight and Zig pursues her finding that Nola has taken out a security agent with some sort of super taser glove and then he encounters a police officer who turns out to be…Nola’s brother, Roddy which comes as a revelation to Zig. I’m sure maybe some of this would make some sense if you read the first book but since I did not I just had to roll with it.
What follows is Zig discovering a government super-secret, an old Cold War era clandestine facility known as “Grandma’s Pantry”, and a sinister group with an agenda that could threaten the security of our nation. Clocking in at 419 pages “The Lightning Rod” is a slog; Meltzer is a master at slowly building up some momentum and then killing it with one of the many flashbacks he inserts throughout. Meltzer uses these flashbacks to develop the characters of Nola and Roddy by exploring their miserable childhoods but they effectively bring the pace to a screeching halt.
The plot is overly complicated and difficult to follow; a subplot when Zig’s ex-wife Charmaine appears with an old video tape of their deceased young daughter Maggie adds nothing to this story other than to distract Zig from what should be his main focus. From reading other reviews the Maggie plot was explored pretty thoroughly in the first book, “The Escape Artist” so why Meltzer returns to her seems odd.
I was actually stationed at Dover AFB back in the 80’s and this book marks the second time I’ve been suckered into buying a novel with Dover as part of the tale; the first was Patricia Cornwell’s “Port Mortuary” which had virtually nothing to do with Dover to my disappointment. “The Lightning Rod” doesn’t have much to do with Dover either and is wildly inaccurate when the narrative involves the base.
Meltzer talks about Security Forces at the main gate armed with H&K MP5 submachine guns; in 27 years of active duty in the USAF I’ve never seen any AF personnel carry this weapon in any capacity (maybe some special ops types like para rescue or combat controllers do but regular SF do not). Then the author mentions Pentagon “brass” coming to the base to pose with fighter jets. Well, they would be out of luck because Dover is an Air Mobility Command base that is the home of the C-5 Galaxy, and the C-17 Globemaster III cargo jets, there aren’t any fighters there for photo ops (might I suggest Luke AFB in Phoenix?).
The author describes the Port Mortuary as “America’s most secretive funeral home” which is simply not true at all and there is nothing "secret" about it. Also, the wing commander at Dover wouldn’t have their office at the mortuary and the ‘wing king’ wouldn’t be involved in the sort of subterfuge that is depicted in the story. The fact that Meltzer starts off with acknowledgements that indicate he had advice from staff at Dover and other military personnel makes these kinds of mistakes hard to explain.
I’m not a big fan of quirky characters and with Zig and Nola you get lots of quirkiness. In one chapter Zig is home and we discover that he keeps bees in a hive that he built and he likes to sit outside and talk to them. They talk back too: “Mmmmmmmmm”, I’m not joking. But it’s Nola who is completely bizarre and unbelievable.
I’ve read some reviews comparing Nola to Lisbeth Salander from “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” but that’s overly generous. Considering that Nola is an artist it’s not really clear to me how she is such a Ninja lethal weapon? Besides her zapping stun glove, in another scene she incapacitates an armed special ops dude using the man’s own pen to dislocate his kneecap. I’ve dissected a few knees in college and I find it highly unlikely she could do this quickly and efficiently without the guy stopping her.
Also, Nola’s always sketching events or crime scenes which takes considerable time and in this era of superb cell phone cameras why not just snap a picture in a second or two? I get it she’s an artist but she’s really going to capture more detail than a camera? Give me a break. Then there’s this eye roller; “Nola Brown is a gun. She’s a weapon, someone had once told Zig, describing her time in the military. You point her at something, and you’ll get what your want- but just know it may come back in pieces.” Umm, she’s a painter, not Jason Bourne.
If you can make it to about page 200, you will be rewarded with some action and reveals that will begin to gain your interest. Overall I found “The Lightning Rod” tedious to read and the ending unnecessarily drawn out. I won’t be reading any further offerings from this author.
What I like is that among the plot twists and turns you learn something. Bits of information about government warehouse around the country storing medical supplies and medicines so that it can be shipped out to a disaster to anti-venom for a snake bite victim.
It's a fun read. A learning experience with a good story.















