RULES OF VENGEANCE
Christopher Reich
Doubleday
Thriller
ISBN: 9780385524070
Christopher Reich hit a new highwater mark for himself in 2008 with RULES OF DECEPTION, an intriguing tale about a skilled surgeon who discovers that his wife is an espionage agent and has been leading a double life --- and deceiving him --- throughout their marriage. The novel ended with the possibility, though not necessarily the promise, of a sequel. RULES OF VENGEANCE, which picks up where RULES OF DECEPTION left off, is much more than a sequel; it is one of those books that authors dream of and readers die for.
Reich has always been a solid author, but RULES OF VENGEANCE is far and away his best book to date, combining action, mystery and human interest into a compelling and unstoppable experience. The story picks up approximately six months after RULES OF DECEPTION ends. Dr. Jonathan Ransom has taken a short leave from his Doctors Without Borders humanitarian practice in Africa to attend a medical conference in London where he has been invited to present a lecture. But he has hardly checked into his hotel when he is given enigmatic instructions that result in a reunion with his wife, Emma, whom he has not seen in over six months. Emma has been on the run from her old employer, Division, a secret American intelligence agency she betrayed during the events that took place in RULES OF DECEPTION.
Ransom’s time with Emma is short and bittersweet; after informing him that she will be gone for at least a year, she disappears. Or attempts to. Ransom has practically no training in espionage, but is able to follow her to a location in London where he witnesses a horrific event: Emma detonates a car bomb that kills a group of bystanders and injures several others, including a Russian ambassador. Worse, it is Ransom who is blamed for the bloodbath by Kate Ford, an inspector with the London Metropolitan Police, and Colonel Graves, a dyspeptic but quietly competent higher-up with MI-5. Ford, already investigating the mysterious murder of a think tank genius, is convinced that it and the bombing are linked.
Not only must Ransom clear himself, he also has to find his wife in order to prevent her from carrying out the next stages of a terrorist action that he is convinced will have worldwide ramifications. In a scene worth the price of the book all by itself, Ransom manages to escape from custody. While being the object of a continent-wide manhunt, he travels from Italy to France, following a cold trail that Emma left six months before but that provides the only clues to her current whereabouts, as well as to the chilling target of her next mission.
There are many things to love about RULES OF VENGEANCE. One is the presentation of a locked room mystery during the first third of the book, which is solved through a combination of modern technology and keen-eyed observation, with the emphasis on the latter rather than the former. There is also the pursuit of Ransom through London and onto the European continent with the combined might and majesty of multiple police forces nipping at his heels. Ransom is not a trained spy, which is evident throughout the book. What he does possess is a keen ability to think on his feet, and quickly, so that those bits of spycraft he’s picked up from Emma are adapted on the fly to meet the situation. And, if you thought you had exhausted your tolerance for car chase scenes, reserve judgment until Reich takes you on a mountain road pursuit that has the potential to end badly.
But my favorite element of RULES OF VENGEANCE is the ending, whereby Reich manages to raise more questions than are answered, sets up as many future volumes of this series as he might wish to write, and yet provides a satisfying conclusion that makes the book complete in and of itself. That is smart, intelligent and thoroughly entertaining storytelling, which is what you will find in RULES OF VENGEANCE from first page to last.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.
© Copyright 1996-2009, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
