You have to go out of your way as a suspense novelist to find situations where the protagonists are somewhat helpless and in real danger.
“I'm sorry I didn't feel any better or play any better, but that's what happens at the end of careers.”
“Their plan is to return the entire world - not just the Middle East - to the days of the caliphate and either convert all of us so-called infidels into born-again Islamic believers or kill us.”